Pokemon: Vessel of Chaos (Arc 1 - The Lonely Road)
by DarkestKyanide
Summary: Team Toxin have begun their hostile takeover on the region of Deltrom, determined to take their revenge. At the same time, Kyan will embark on his first ever Pokemon adventure, however, he has no idea what he is about to get himself into. But is everything really as it seems on Deltrom? Are Team Toxin really working alone? Prepare for a journey of mass proportion.
1. Chapter 1 - Loner

**_Chapter 1 – Loner_**

 **Authors Notes:** This is the re-written version of the first chapter

* * *

 **3rd August 3023**

 **(Kyan's POV)**

I was sitting out the front of the cabin, cross-legged on the hard oak of the open porch, holding a misshapen lump of wood in one hand and a carving knife in the other. Wiping my golden-blonde fringe away from my forehead as the scorching Kanto sun beamed down upon the clearing where the ranch resided. Several Tauros and Rapidash were milling around the plains surrounding the cabin, some drinking from the water trough, others lying down and bathing in the sun. Off in the distance I was pretty sure I could spot two Tauros locking horns and mooing at each other, I wasn't worried though, Stoutland would surely split them up soon.

"Arff, Arffff!" Came the roar from the powerful shaggy-dog pokémon. The Tauros practically screamed in surprise as they split and ran off in separate directions. I giggled to myself and continued to whittle away at the block of wood in my hand, a few minutes passed with all being silent, but then I heard footsteps from within the house, heading towards the front door.

When I heard them I slipped my carving knife behind one of the potted plants out the front of the porch, I didn't want my mum to catch me with the "dangerous" tool because then my dad would get in trouble for giving it to me. I had shown an interest in my dad's hobby so he had given me a spare knife and some wood to practice on.

"Kyan! Where are ya bud?" My dad's voice came from inside the house

My body instantly eased up, as I realised it was just my dad coming to check up on me. My dad opened the front door leading out to the porch and peered out, he spotted me sitting on the porch and gave me a smile, he spied the carving in my hand and extended out his own.

"Whatcha working on?" he asked, I handed him my carving, it was pretty shoddy but I was still confident that I could improve on it.

"It's supposed to be Tapu Koko, but it still needs work." I told him, he looked over it briefly before replying.

"It's definitely coming along nicely!" He said, handing it back to me.

"Mum says dinner is ready, but she wants you to call in Stoutland for her." My dad told me, I groaned as I rolled my eyes. I looked out to where I last saw the dog pokémon but was annoyed to find that she was no longer there, i pulled myself to my feet and set off down the stairs to look for her.

Eventually I spotted the shaggy pokémon loitering around the outskirts of the field, I walked over closer to her, so I could get within ear-shot and shouted out to Stoutland.

"Hey girl, it's time for dinner!" As soon as she heard my voice she spun around and began barking her head off before turning back towards the forest surrounding the farm. She was focusing fiercely on something deep within the forest, but i had no idea what had her so concerned.

"Woah, what's up Stoutland?" I queried the pokémon, just before she sprang into the forest and started running away from the farm.

"Stoutland, hey!" I shouted, panicking, why the hell was Stoutland sprinting off into Viridian forest. I quickly decided to set off after her, I was the one sent to fetch her, so I'd feel responsible if something were to happen.

* * *

My parents told me that I wasn't allowed in the forest by myself until I was older, but I didn't have much of a choice. Stoutland was frantically running deeper and deeper into the forest and I knew that she desperately wanted to show me something.

I soon found out what she wanted to show me, as I broke into a clearing in the forest, and spotted Stoutland waiting for me, next to an egg.

"Woah! A pokémon egg!" I exclaimed as I approached the egg, it was light brown in colour, with cream stripes covering the surface. I looked around, searching for any kind of clue as to where the mother was. But I couldn't see any pokémon in the area, so i had to assume that the egg was abandoned.

I scooped up the egg, and inspected it for damage. My mother had briefly taught me about pokémon breeding once before, and I could vaguely remember some of the lessons. I knew that we had to act quickly.

"We should get this back to the ranch, without a mother, this egg won't survive long!" i told Stoutland, she barked in agreement and lowered herself down to allow me to climb upon her back, and then began running back through the forest to reach the ranch.

* * *

"Mum! I found an egg in the forest!" I shouted into the kitchen as i entered the house.

"Where have you been?! We didn't get you a poke-gear for you to not answer it!" My mother shouted as she walked into the entryway, but then she spotted the egg in my hands.

"And where did you get that?" She questioned.

"I found it in the forest, Stoutland led me there, and it didn't have a mother! I couldn't leave it to die" I answered back.

"Uuuurgh! Fine, take it to the incubation room." My mum said eventually, visibly annoyed. I took the egg and went round the back of the house to the building used for egg incubation, and placed it into one of the chambers. I guessed the egg was a species that incubates under warm condition due to its colouration.

I quickly went and practically devoured dinner, then returned to observe the egg. My mother wasn't happy and was constantly chastising me for putting myself in danger, and for bringing an unknown egg onto the ranch, my father tried to calm her but it was to no avail, she was clearly angry at me but i had no idea why, I was just trying to help a pokémon in need.

* * *

For the next few days, I spent all my free time in the incubation room, between helping the family in the ranch and being scolded by my mother. I didn't feel comfortable leaving the egg alone, it wasn't like all the Ponyta and Tauros eggs that we had on the farm, it didn't have a family to help it grow up after it was born.

After a few more days, the egg would occasionally shuffle slightly, at least that's what the chambers movement sensors reported, but I couldn't tell the difference. My father told me it should hatch soon.

* * *

 **11th August 3023**

"The egg! It's hatching!" I shouted up the stairs, I turned back and left through the back door as I heard my parents coming down the stairs. It had begun to crack and my mother told me to tell her immediately when this happened.

We crowded around the incubation chamber containing the egg and watched as it slowly cracked upon, a brown arm poked through the shell, followed by a small tail and then eventually a smooth brown head.

"A brown Charmander?" I asked aloud, really confused at this hatchling.

"No, Kyan. I think it's a Cubone!" My dad responded, correcting me.

"Really? But aren't they supposed to be wearing their mother's skull?" I asked.

"No that's just a myth, while it is possibly for a Cubone to take their mother's skull if they die before the Cubone's birth, what normally happens is that the mother Marowak creates a skull for the baby from another pokémon's skull, and then gifts it's child with it when it hatches, after that, it becomes a rite of passage for the Cubone to find it's own bone club." My dad explained, I thought about what he said for a moment, even though i didn't fully understand it.

"Oh, so because Stacie doesn't have a mother, she doesn't have a skull?" I asked.

"Stacie?! Why have you named it? we can't keep it here Kyan!" My mother questioned.

"We already have pokémon to look after, and you're too young to have your own pokémon!" She explained.

"That's not fair! I was the one who saved her from the forest, I'm like her brother! If you let me keep her then you won't have to get anything for my birthday!" I bargained, my mum was about to respond when my dad spoke up.

"Can I speak to you for a minute Krissa?" My dad asked and left the room, my mum followed behind him.

 **(3rd Person POV)**

"What is it Brian?" Kyan's mum asked in a hushed voice.

"I know you're worried about Kyan running off and becoming a trainer, you're always talking about how your friends in the city have been abandoned by their children, but we both know that Kyan has a tough time at school and the holidays are about to end, if he has Stacie then it might make school easier for him, having a pokémon to come home to." Brian explained. Krissa put on her thinking face for a moment as she mulled over the situation, eventually she came to a decision

"I guess you're right. Okay fine, but he has to be the one to look after it!" Krissa demanded.

 **(Kyan's POV)**

"Good news Kyan! We've decided you can keep Stacie, but you're responsible for her!" My dad told me as he walked back into the incubation room.

"Yes!" I yelled out, clearly happy with their decision. I quickly cleaned up the egg shell from around Stacie and went to pick her up, as expected, she had already started crying aloud, fortunately, I stayed calm and acted quickly.

"I'll make her a spot in my room and feed her." I said and quickly hurried up to my room, I made a little nest of pillows and placed Stacie in the middle of it. After finding some food and giving it to her, she calmed down and made it easier for me to pick her up.

"Hey there Stacie! You're a part of the family now, so I'll be looking after you from now on." I said softly, but Stacie just stared at me, and then smacked me on the nose. I dropped the Cubone from my hands as I covered my nose and she scurried off underneath my bed.

"Hey! What's wrong girl? Come out from under there." I said to Stacie, but she refused to leave from underneath the bed. I got up and slumped on to my bed, completely confused at Stacie's actions, I brainstormed ideas as to why Stacie was so hesitant to come out from under the bed, almost as if she's scared of the world. That's when I remember what my dad told me about Cubone skull's.

* * *

 **13th August 3023**

I heard my dad come in through the front door, and quickly checked on Stacie before I rushed down the stairs to meet him.

"I already know what you're going to ask, and yeah I got it." My dad said as he saw me hurrying down the stairs, he reached into his bag and pulled out a book, it was a basic hardback book, with the words _The Orphan Pokémon_ written across the cover.

"Thanks dad! This'll get Stacie out from under that bed!" I exclaimed.

"Really? So what are you planning?" My dad asked.

"I have a hunch, that Stacie is too scared off the outside world because she has no skull to protect her, she was supposed to get one at birth but never did, so it wasn't long before her instincts kicked in and she hid away to protect herself, I'm going to use this book to carve a life-size skull for her." I answered as I headed out of the house and into my dad's workshop.

"I need you to pick me out a white piece of wood, preferably one that isn't going to catch on fire or break easily, it'll be no good for protecting her then." I explained, my dad hurried off and returned with a large block of white wood.

"This is alabaster creek-wood, it should meet all those requirements perfectly!" My dad exclaimed.

"Awesome, this'll be perfect." I said, and placed the block down on the bench.

"So, where do we start?" My dad wondered.

"I appreciate it dad, but we've already decided that looking after Stacie is my responsibility." I explained.

"If you insist, but I'll still need to supervise you to make sure you don't get hurt." My dad insisted.

And so we got to work, me carving away at the block of alabaster, and my dad guiding me on how to effectively and safely shape the piece. We made slow work on the first day, but as I gained more experience and confidence, I started to work quicker than the day before.

* * *

 **22nd August 3023**

I had to get the skull done today, I was going back to school tomorrow and then I would have barely any time to finish it. Luckily I only needed to file the wood down to make the skull smoother and improve the fit so it would stay secure on Stacie's head.

She had stayed holed up in my room for weeks, she had left the safety of the bed but she was still too nervous to leave the room. I hoped that this gift would make her more confident and allow her to live her life to the fullest, since that egg hatched I've felt a connection to Stacie and I knew that I had to protect and look after her.

* * *

I entered my room, the skull hidden behind my back, and saw Stacie sitting on a pillow on the floor. She looked up towards me, and squeaked out a noise that I assumed meant "Hi!".

"Hey Stacie! I've got a gift for you, I think you're going to like it." I said, she cocked her head and wandered over to me. I knelt down and presented the skull to her, her eyes widened immediately as she realised what it was.

"I made you a new skull, I'm sorry that you don't have a mother, but you've still got a family. You've got me by your side and I'll be there for you whenever you need me, from this point on, you can consider me your brother." I told her with a smile, and put the skull on her head. She then jumped forward and into my chest, with tears in her eyes, I wrapped my arms around my new little sister and hugged her tight.


	2. Chapter 2 - Butting Heads

_**Chapter 2 – Butting Heads**_

* * *

 **Last time we saw Kyan and Stoutland racing home to the farm, in order to try and save the life of a pokémon egg. The contents of said egg were unknown to them, but yet they still fought for its survival.**

* * *

 **5 Years Later**

 **(Kyan's POV)**

I stood out on the porch, looking out across the whole of Verger Town and taking it all in. It was a beautiful town for sure and the people were kind and welcoming, but did it have to be so boring and full of nobodies? Like seriously, of all the islands in Deltrom everyone knew that Gamma island was essentially for civilians, I hadn't seen another pokémon in Verger Town in the last few weeks, and if I did it would be a Lapras bred to ferry bratty kids around the harbour. My morning had started off well but now I had just depressed myself, no that's not it, this freaking island as a whole had depressed me. I did a full 180 and walked back through the glass sliding doors into the dining room, I could hear my mum working away in the kitchen and decided to go and look for something to do. I pushed upon the door that connected the two rooms and saw my mum working away, cleaning pots and pans while also baking some-sort of cake in the oven. So, it was going to be one of those mornings.

"Anything I can help with? Since I can see you've got a busy day at the bakery planned." I chuckled as I walked up to the kitchen counter and hopped up on it, sitting with my legs hanging over one end as I looked over my shoulder at my mum.

My mum whirled her head around and snapped at me. "Will you get off the counter Kyan!" but then she quickly regained her composure.

"But yes, thank you, here take this list and go run and get all the ingredients listed on it." I could tell she was stressed out, so I thought it best not to tell her about the e-mail I received from dad, the one where he told me he really wanted to visit me at our home in Deltrom, it didn't matter anyway because my mum would always come up with some excuse as to why he couldn't visit us.

' _I wonder which one she'd use this time, maybe that she doesn't want to inconvenience him by coming all the way to Deltrom, or maybe she'd say that she's far too booked up with orders this week, or my personal favourite, the good, old if he really wants to, which we all know means "Fuck off!" I can't be bothered with it today anyway, I'll mention it tomorrow or something.'_ I lowered myself down from the counter, grabbed up the list of groceries, scanned it quickly and decided which route I'd need to take. I set off for the front door before my mum called out to me.

"You should take Stacie with you and get her out of that bed." My mum giggled after me, I had to crack a smile at that, that girl was always sleeping. I turned around and headed towards the door that led into the hallway, I entered and stopped at the bottom of the stairs that led up to my room.

"Hey Stacie, get your butt moving! We've got a job…" I craned my neck backwards to shout further up the stairs, but then.

"CUUUUUUUUU!" Stacie leapt over the banister at the top of the stairs and plummeted head first down towards my face, her skull collided with me and sent me sprawling to the floor holding my face in pain. I managed to peek through my hands and saw Stacie, my Cubone, standing crossed arms with her eyes narrowed at me. It took me a second to realise why she was so mad.

"Seriously? You're annoyed because I interrupted your joy-dive, you could have broken my nose Stacie!" I feigned anger but couldn't hold it for long, I burst out laughing and Stacie joined in almost instantly.

"Cu, Cu, Cubooooone, bone, bone!" I pulled myself up off the floor and grabbed my bag from the cupboard under the stairs. It was a simple black and dark-blue bag with a large front pocket, I slipped it onto my back and headed back into the kitchen, as I walked Stacie leapt and clung onto the back of my bag before climbing up a bit further to grab a hold of my right shoulder. I said a quick goodbye to my mum before opening the door and heading out into Verger Town.

As I jogged down the stairs leading from my front door to the pathway, I heard a voice calling out to me.

"Good morning, young Kyan." Mr. Chere said to me as he sauntered down the pathway leading past my house. His large, bushy, white moustache muffled his voice as the round, jolly man waved to me, I lazily raised my hand in greeting, and headed off down the pathway in the opposite direction of Mr. Chere. The town of Verger essentially considered Mr. Chere the mayor, he was normally the one who handled issues in the town, or at least he would be if anything actually happened here. Mr. Chere was actually going in the same direction as I had originally planned to go, but I would rather take a longer journey than have to talk to someone.

"He's in a good mood, probably because of that stupid dance that's happening tonight, bet he thinks he's finally going to get somewhere with Mandy!" I laughed out loud at my dumb joke, and Stacie snickered along with me before she began to nod off and almost fall from my back, I shook my bag and she jolted awake.

"I think you've had enough sleep Stacie!" I joked, but she didn't find it funny and I received a knock on the head from her club.

* * *

After a few more minutes of walking and talking, we neared the town market, if there's one thing you could say about Gamma island, it was that the market always had what you needed, although that was probably due to the sheer fact that every family in the town produced and sold some sort of product. I was consulting the list my mum had given me when I heard someone shouting throughout the market.

"Hey! Kid with the Cubone, where's the gym on this island?" the voice shouted. Jeez, I hated it when people caused such a disturbance, have some decency.

' _Wait! Kid with the Cubone?_ ' I raised my head and looked for the source of the voice as I realised that the person was calling out for me. As I scanned the crowds, I locked eyes with a boy, about a few inches shorter than me, with a green pullover hoodie, tan skin and fiery orange hair.

"Uhm sorry? Can I help you man?" I asked him, I hated talking to random people in the street, but I still wasn't so rude that I was going to ignore him.

"I asked you where the Thrush City gym was, idiot!?" he yelled back at me, this kid clearly had no patience, he was annoying, so I decided that I would take great pleasure in delivering the fact that…

"The Thrush City gym is on Overn island MORON! There are no gyms on Gamma island!" I yelled back with a smirk, I was never a fan of confrontation, but it didn't mean I was going to back down to this asshole. Stacie jumped from my shoulder and began angrily waving her club at the kid while screeching out several sounds, I was hoping that among them was the Cubone word for "Go fuck yourself!"

"You're kidding me! That old man told me he'd drop me off at Overn island!" The boy began stamping his feet on the ground, kicking up dust as he ranted about some old ferryman who gave him a bum deal.

"Screw it! It doesn't matter anyway, I'll head there after I get some practice on you and your Cubone! Let's take them on, Salandit!" He threw a poke-ball at the ground and it bounced before popping open, the energy spilled out from it and formed into a black lizard pokémon, I didn't immediately recognise it, but I had the assumption it was from the Alola region.

"Wow hey! Wait just a second, we're not battlers you dick!" I screamed at him across the market as his Salandit prepped itself in a battle position, Stacie looked over her shoulder at me with scared eyes, she didn't know what to do, we'd never been in a battle before.

"Don't be a bitch, you can't back down now! Salandit, blast it with Ember!" The boy ordered, his Salandit leaned their head back and prepared a ball of flame within its throat before whipping its head forward and launching a concentrated fireball at Stacie.

 **How are Stacie and Kyan going to get out of this one? Will they be forced to battle? And who exactly is their opponent? Find out Tomorrow!**


	3. Chapter 3 - Spark of Battle

_**Chapter 3 – Spark of Battle**_

* * *

 **Last time Kyan and Stacie got caught up in a battle against a rude boy and his Salandit, they were forced to prepare for battle as Salandit attacked!**

* * *

 **(Kyan's POV)**

The ember sailed through the air directly towards my poor Cubone, it collided with Stacie and the fire washed over her. I stumbled back in fear from the intense heat before screaming out for my friend.

"Stacie, no!" I yelled before I saw the flames die out, Stacie was standing there, she was breathing heavily but she only had a few minor burns across her body.

"Damn, fire-types attacks won't do much to a Cubone, okay then Salandit, try using Scratch!" the redheaded boy commanded as he jabbed a finger towards us. At that order his Salandit took off, running on its hind legs directly towards Stacie, brandishing his claws and letting off a screech as he charged.

"Saaaaaaaaalaa!" As Salandit got ever closer, I glanced at Stacie and realised that she was crying in fear and pain. We were both terrified from this threat as we hadn't battled before, backed into a corner with nowhere to turn, my mind wandered to our time in Kanto. The countless times we had both been alone with no-one to help us, except each other. Just like the time that Stacie followed me all the way to school to protect me from the bullies, they had cornered me out the back of one of the side buildings attached to the school, probably to make fun of me for something I'd done earlier in the day. It wasn't soon after that Stacie had sprung into action and ran between us, trying to defend me, unfortunately they didn't seem to care much and just beat us both up, assholes. We had been found by one of the school nurses who looked over our injuries, I had refused to divulge the identities of our attackers, I knew it would only make the situation worse. And the headmaster even had the audacity to scold me for bringing my pokémon to school. But throughout all of it, and ever since then, Stacie always defended me, and refused to back down, even when she was scared. So how could I back down now? When she needed me the most?!

"We're not taking this! Stacie, smack it with your bone club now!" Stacie jerked to attention, the determination she had always possessed returning to her as she heard the confidence in her friend's voice, she looked over to see tears streaming down his face, but despite that his expression was strong and fierce, Stacie in that moment knew that they were going to win this.

"Booooooone!" As the Salandit got within striking distance, Stacie swept her arm around and caught it right in the jaw with the bone club held in her right arm, the black pokémon shot off into the air and fell back down with a thud a few feet away from Stacie.

"Yes girl! Great hit!" I screamed as I sprang into the air in excitement, my fists pumping into the air, but I knew that this battle wasn't over. I managed to recall a few pokémon moves that most should know and shouted them out to Stacie.

"Okay, now try using Tail Whip and follow it up with Headbutt!" Stacie began to charge forward, reacting to the orders that I had given her. However, the boy and his Salandit hadn't gave up yet.

"Try scratch again, go!" Salandit and Stacie were running at each other now, both determined to win. As they closed the distance, Salandit swiped its claw across Stacie's chest, cutting open three small wounds which leaked with blood. Stacie powered through the pain and swung around in a full 360° turn, as she spun, she lightly thwacked her tail across Salandit's face, throwing their focus off and causing them to lower their guard as Stacie came back around and drove her skull into her enemy's stomach. Salandit catapulted back from the force of the attack, rocketing across the battlefield and colliding with its trainer's legs, causing them to both fall down into a crumpled heap on top of each other, the Salandit was unconscious, Stacie and I had won!

Cheers began to come from the crowd of people who had stopped their shopping to watch the battle.

"Yes Kyan! You showed him!"

"Aww, did you see little Stacie? She was so cute but powerful!"

"Didn't know you two had it in you!"

While it could be said that the witnesses of the battle were initially annoyed at the interruption, after seeing Kyan and Stacie were the ones battling, they became concerned as they knew that they weren't battlers. But the whole market was moved by the effort and emotion that the two had displayed in their first battle.

"You're kidding me! How could you let me down like that Salandit?" The boy stood up and dusted off his shorts before taking the poke-ball he had originally thrown and recalling his Salandit back into it.

"Oh well, I'm sure you'll get another chance to prove yourself buddy! It's not like this battle was even important!" he gave a side-glance towards the exhausted duo of Kyan and Stacie and was about to walk away when a small yellow pokémon stepped forward from behind the boy and began to spin its arms around as electricity crackled throughout its body.

"No Elekid! Cubone will be completely immune to your electric attacks, let's get out of here!" The boy and his Elekid ran off around the corner and out of sight of myself and the crowd.

"So, he had an Elekid as well? And what the hell was that crap about Salandit letting him down? You're a freaking team, you dick." I said under my breath as I crossed the battlefield, heading towards Stacie who had taken a seat down in the dust due to her exhaustion, I picked her up in my arms and a hand clapped down on my shoulder.

"Too true young Kyan! That boy should have more respect for the bond between a trainer and their pokémon!" Mr Chere gruffly said as he looked off towards the direction in which the boy had ran.

"Mr Chere! You were watching our battle?" I turned around to see the large figure of the town's acting mayor.

"Indeed, I was! Ho ho ho, and what a battle it was!" Mr Chere chortled.

"Now come along boy, I should have some medicine within my home that can help patch up Stacie!" I glanced down at my arms and wasn't surprised to see Stacie asleep in my arms, exhausted from her battle, yet she did have several burns marks and also still had the scratch marks from Salandit's claw.

"Yeah, I think I should get her healed up after what we just went through." I sighed as I followed Mr Chere.

"Yes indeed, speaking of that battle I have to say that you and miss Stacie were very impressive in your first ever battle." Mr Chere said to me with a bright, beaming smile on his face.

"You think so? To be completely honest I was just running on instinct." I blurted out, slightly embarrassed at the praise I was receiving.

"Well that's how the best trainers battle boy! They use the powerful bond shared between them and their pokémon, and then use that connection to support each other, you have to be able to rely on each other's instincts, just as you two did!" Mr Chere laughed, he could tell that Kyan wasn't one for being praised, but after seeing that battle, he had been hit by a wave of nostalgia and pride, towards Kyan, and simply couldn't contain himself.  
"You know what? With skills like that maybe you should consider taking on the Deltrom League!" Mr Chere's blood was pumping and his mind was racing with images of himself and his old team, he was barely even paying attention to what he was saying.

"What?!" I screeched out.

We had walked in silence for the next minute or so, thoughts exploding inside my head, of adventure and battle, of companionship and rivalry. Me and Stacie weren't born to be adventurers, we lived on a farm for the majority of our lives, and we would still be living there if it wasn't for that day…

The day that changed our monotonous life forever, the day that set us on our current path.

 **What is the day that Kyan speaks of? What exactly happened on this day? And how did it cause them to be living in Deltrom? Find out Tomorrow!**


	4. Chapter 4 - That Day

**_Chapter 4 – That Day_**

* * *

 **Last time Kyan pondered his life as an adventurer, and these musings led to him remembering a particular day from his past.**

* * *

 **3 Years Before Present Day**

 **(Kyan's POV)**

"Come on Stacie! I'll race you!" I started sprinting down the pathway that led down to the farm, Stacie was plodding behind me, trying to catch up to me with her short legs. I made sure to let her catch up every minute or so, but I was in a rush to get back home, I knew that a friend of my father was visiting today, one of his business associates that liked the quality of the farms Mareep wool and its transport Tauros, who were capable of hauling cargo containers with little to no difficulty. He would occasionally come by to check on the state of the farm as he was a respected individual and was in the habit of only dealing with the most reputable of establishments. My parents would normally ask for my assistance in up-keeping the farm during this time, as the councillor was one of our best sources of income.

* * *

 **(3rd Person POV)**

"Happy to have you here Richard!" Kyan's dad exclaimed as he stepped towards his old friend, his hand outstretched.

"Please Brian, during business hours I would kindly ask that you refer to me as Councillor Siegbold." The councillor accepted Brian's handshake and shook his old friends hand firmly.

"Of course, councillor, my apologies." Brian nodded his head swiftly and began to lead Richard towards the nearby Mareep pens.

"So where is that boy of yours? And his peculiar companion?" Richard queried as he looked out towards the grazing Mareep, he noted that they seemed to be as healthy and happy as ever.

"They're on the way back from school, they should have been here by now actually." Brian answered, he wasn't overly worried however, Kyan wasn't the most punctual of children. Brian proceeded to direct Richard over to the side of the farm where the Tauros were kept, despite Richard fully knowing where they were at this point, but he kindly prevented himself from overstepping his boundaries.

* * *

 **(Kyan's POV)**

I could tell from the smell that we were almost home, yeah, the farm was great, but it was safe to say that the smell could definitely be improved. My parents told me that eventually I would adapt to ignore the smell, but it could take a few years, great.

Stacie had taken to riding atop my bag at this point, giving up the race when she fell behind one too many times and didn't want us to be late.

"Almost there now girl, I'm sure you can smell it." I remarked towards my companion. Stacie made a noise that I could only assume was a mock gag, glad to see I wasn't the only one who thought the smell was worse than usual.

We walked for another minute or two, before the farm finally came into view. Even from this distance I could make out the figures of my father and Mr Siegbold. The councillor noticed me from his position, and I could see him tapping my father on the shoulder before gesturing towards me, my father turned towards me and waved a big goofy wave. I stifled a laugh and headed towards the two adults.

"Hello again my boy! It's a pleasure as always, and same to you Miss Stacie!" Mr Siegbold executed a perfect bow in our direction as he greeted us.

"Good evening, Mr Siegbold!" I replied, Stacie squeaked from up on my bag and began waving her bone towards the councillor. The councillor chuckled to himself and after a suggestive cough from my father, nodded to him that he could continue the tour.

"As always, I personally look after the Tauros here, while Krissa continues to look after the Rapidash further down the farm." My father rambled on with his best business voice, to be honest it was unsettling, but the councillor would always insist on keeping these meetings as formal as possible.

As we rounded one of the barns dotted across the wide expanse of the farm. The large Tauros pen came into view, we all stopped outside it and waited while the councillor observed the pokémon from the metal fence. I could tell that neither of us were particularly observant as we knew that the Tauros were diligently looked after, much like every other pokémon on the farm.

"Hah, well yes, as usual it would appear to me that everything is in… My god! What is that?" The councillor's praise was cut short by his scream, me and my father both ran towards the fence, trying to see what had caused the councillor to react in such a way, I spotted it before my father did and shouted out to him.

"Father! There!" I pointed towards what I had spotted in the crowd of Tauros, it was impossible to be sure of what exactly it was as it was obscured by the grazing bull pokémon, but I could make out a red and brown shape further down the pen.

"Hiyaaaaa!" My father had yanked his whip off of his belt, opened the gate into the pen and began cracking his bullwhip back and forth, the Tauros were motivated by the noise and began to shuffle about, separating the formed herd until the shape could be seen and identified. It was the corpse of one of my father's dead Tauros.

"My god! Kyan, don't look!" my father shouted towards me and Stacie, I had to fight against my curiosity to turn my head down and tear my gaze from the dead pokémon. I could already feel tears forming in my eyes and bile rising in my throat from the shock and disgust of the discovery, my head snapped back up when I heard a roaring come from within the pen.

A small Tauros had come from a nearby herd and was now standing over the dead one with blood caked over and dripping from his horns, at once, all 4 on-lookers realised that the Tauros was standing over his kill.

"Alex! You couldn't have done this, you're harmless." My father pleaded, tears streaming down his face as the grim reality of the situation finally dawned on him. Then, the Tauros known as Alex charged full-pelt at my father. He let out a gasp before spinning on his heels and sprinting towards the gate. Fear had a hold over my body, I could do nothing but stand here and watch with the constant fear that I was about to watch my own father be mauled. Luckily the councillor came to his senses and opened the gate for my father just as he reached it, my father dove through the opening and collapsed to the ground in a coughing fit.

"Close it Richard!" My father screamed at the councillor, who was already trying to close the gate as fast as he could, but it wasn't fast enough.

"Tauroooooooo!" Roared Alex as he smashed through the gate before it could be fully closed, and the latch could be set. We all froze as Alex calmly assessed every one of us, his gaze stopped and rested on Stacie and me, in an instant he had decided that we were the easiest target, and he charged.

"Nooo! Miltank, protect my son!" My father tossed a poke-ball and I watched as his Miltank burst from it, she leapt in front of me and took the Tauros' charge head on, grabbing a hold of Alex's horns and keeping him subdued. It was at that moment that more roars began to erupt from the Tauros still inside the pen, they began to spill out from the hole where the gate once was, they acted the same as Alex and fixed their gaze on a target before mercilessly charging at it, some of them chose the barn, some the house of in the distance, some of them went for the other nearby pens, and two even went for the councillor. The first drove its head into him, knocking him to the ground with a powerful headbutt, luckily its horns didn't pierce his body. But the other Tauros then trotted up to him and with a roar, propped itself up on its hind legs and brought his front hooves down onto the councillor's skull, breaking it and instantly killing him with a loud CRACK.

"Richard!" My father yelled out as he watched his friend be killed right in front of him, tears streaming down his face as he was frozen in panic, unable to turn his gaze away from his old friend.

"Dad! What do we do?" I asked my father, as his Miltank began throwing Focus Punches into the face of the Tauros she was grappling with. She brought her fist back with each punch, tightening all her muscles, gathering energy into her fist before punching Alex with all her might, it took a couple of punches but soon the Tauros had been completely knocked unconscious by the barrage of attacks.

My father's eyes widened as he registered my voice as the one belonging to his son, he wiped the tears from his face with his sleeve, in that moment he had decided to protect his family first and mourn later.

"Miltank, look after my boy! Kyan, I'm going to go and find your mother." My father ran off in search of my mother, another Tauros attempted to attack him as he ran, but he called out his Throh to hold it back. Throh rocked the Tauros' head upward as he delivered a powerful Sky Uppercut to it, he then ducked under its kicking front hooves and wrapped his arms around its waist before lifting it and slamming it onto its back with Seismic Toss. I watched my father disappear from sight as he rounded a corner in search of my mother, I stayed close to Miltank and prayed to Arceus that no more Tauros would decide to attack.

* * *

The attack had been going on for just a few minutes now, but the Tauros had already damaged every building in sight and injured or killed every pokémon. Miltank still stood diligently in front of me, prepared for any attack to come. Eventually we heard the clop of hooves and our heads darted to the right, the direction that the sound had come from, and saw three Tauros, all larger than Alex, charging towards us with rage in their eyes. Miltank lumbered forward to meet them and began flexing her muscles, using Bulk Up to increase her attack and defence, before gathering beige-coloured energy around her bottom half and charging full-throttle towards the three new opponents, she was using Bulldoze and collided with the Tauros leading the charge, the sheer impact and strength of Miltank allowed her to force her weight over and against the Tauros, in an instant she had trampled over the Tauros, breaking several of its bones and causing it to squirm around the ground in pain. Miltank hopped down from the crippled pokémon's body and took up a defensive stance, readying herself to fight the other two Tauros.

It was at that moment that I sensed a large presence behind me, I screamed out and dived to the side as a massive Tauros horn smashed into the dirt where I once stood. I scrambled to my feet as the Tauros tried to free its horn from the dirt, for the first time I managed to get a close look at the rampaging pokémon that had been causing so much trouble. Its eyes were bloodshot and manic, constantly looking around as if it was having a stroke, the Tauros continuously convulsed as it stamped against the ground. To me, it seemed as if the Tauros had literally been driven mad somehow. But how? They were always properly cared for and looked after. I didn't have time to ponder this question now however, because the Tauros had pulled its horn from the dirt and was now roaring in my face, preparing to skewer me where I stood.

The horn of the Tauros was heading straight for my torso, it would pierce my body and I would die almost instantly from such a wound, but before the horn contacted my body, I felt a hand grab me by the collar of my school uniform, before it tossed me aside. I landed in the dirt, coughing and spluttering from the dust cloud that had been kicked up upon impact, I looked over my shoulder at my saviour, and was blinded by roaring flames that shone with the sun beaming in the background, I'd recognise those flames anywhere, it was Rapidash! But even better than that. It was my mother's Rapidash!

"I hope you're okay Kyan. What happened here?" My mother asked from atop her flaming steed, the very same one that had locked horns with the Tauros to block its attack, it reminded me of a graceful fencer blocking the strike of a foe.

"The Tauros, mother! They started rampaging!" I screamed at my mother, the cruel reality of the last ten minutes hitting me, I curled up into a ball in the dirt, shutting myself off from the terror around me. I was terrified of the world around me and was trying to hide from it all, the last thing I heard before I fell into full blown shock, was my mother issuing a command to her Rapidash.

 **(3rd Person POV)**

"Finish it Windsor! Megahorn!" Krissa yelled. Windsor the Rapidash jerked his head and withdrew his horn from the lock with Tauros' horn, before charging his forehead horn with massive amounts of green energy. His horn grew even sharper and longer, and as Tauros prepared to headbutt Windsor in the neck with its horns, Windsor dove his head down, piercing the Tauros straight through its head, instantly killing the manic pokémon.

Krissa slipped from Windsor's saddle, and knelt down next to her panicking son. She could see that he was unresponsive and shaking, Stacie was next to him and was visibly and audibly concerned, whining while she looked at Krissa.

"Worry not Stacie, he'll be okay. Now come on, let's clean this mess up!" Krissa exclaimed confidently before she picked her son up and laid him across Windsor's back, then she and Stacie climbed up into the saddle once again and set off deeper into the farm.

* * *

 **Present Day**

 **(Kyan's POV)**

"Uhm, Kyan? We should probably hurry, for Stacie's sake." Mr Chere chirped from further up the path, I was knocked out of my stupor, my mind had been completely engrossed in remembering the events of the Tauros attack and I had been staring off into nothing for the last few minutes.

"Yes! We should continue, sorry, I was just lost in thought." I apologised and set off after Mr Chere again, with Stacie in my arms.

"What could possible cause you to be so engrossed in your own mind?" Mr Chere Queried, a frown on his face as he became worried for my state of mind. I decided to cave and tell him, it's not like my mother kept our origins a secret anyway.

"I was remembering my time on my family's farm, back in Kanto." I answered, his face dropped even further as I divulged this information.

"Ah, I see. Yes, such a horrible thing to undergo at your age. You know actually, I've never heard the whole story before, your mother never finishes it whenever she's told it before." Mr Chere pondered, muttering to himself.

"She's only ever got to the part where she and her Rapidash save you from that massive Tauros?" Mr Chere looked to me as he spoke, expecting some sort of explanation.

"That's because the story may as well finish there." I answered.

"After that, she met up with my father and cleared up the Tauros that hadn't already escaped the farm. Then it was time for us to try and re-build, but disaster continued to strike us. We were removed from the Council of Ranches, the group where all the best ranches and farms were listed, it brought in the majority of our business." I told Mr Chere, trying to remember what I could from my childhood.

"Why did they remove you? Surely not over a herd of angry Tauros!" Mr Chere asked, appalled at the council's disrespect towards us.

"No actually, the reason they removed us from their ranks is one of the biggest issues with that whole ordeal and the reason we're even in Deltrom in the first place, apparently domesticated Tauros should never react like that, unless they are severely mistreated. Like we're talking mass abuse and severe mistreatment." I answered, I could remember the day that the council representative came to my parents, and the argument that ensued afterwards.

"I see, so because of the way that the Tauros rampaged, the council accused your father of heavily mistreating the Tauros, and therefore, removed you from the council?" Mr Chere inquired, I could tell he was trying to dig deeper and find out about the previous life of the shy boy that had barely talked to him until now.

"Yeah, that's exactly the case." I sombrely replied, we had arrived at Mr Chere's home, but we had stopped to finish our talk before entering.

"Since then, my mum always blamed my father for ruining us, eventually the arguments became too much and they got divorced a few days after I turned 14, after trying to balance custody of me for over a year, my mother gave my father the final nail in the coffin, and moved us off to Deltrom for my 16th birthday, and well you know the rest." I informed Mr Chere about the escalating situation between my parents that had led to me and my mother moving here a few months back.

"And you and your mother have been honoured members of the Verger community since that day!" Mr Chere chuckled in response, but he still had a question on his mind, which he asked as he turned the key in the door to his house.

"But you don't think that your father is actually to blame though? Do you?" Mr Chere had noticed the animosity in Kyan's voice whenever the subject of his father being accused was brought up.

The question hung in the air as I considered my answer, and then I spoke.

"I would say I know for certain that he was not responsible, I don't know how it happened, but I helped my father look after those Tauros nearly every day, if he was mistreating them, I would have known, I would have known better than my mother and the council, that's for sure!" Mr Chere could hear just how confident I was in this statement, and let the conversation drop there.

"Right this way, I have something for Stacie in my medicine cupboard." He told me, I followed him into his living room, and he told me to take a seat while he fetched the medicine.

* * *

Mr Chere was in the other room, I believe he had referred to it as his study. Stacie was bouncing around happily on the mahogany table, all healed up thanks to Mr Chere. He had given me a regular potion to spray over Stacie's wounds, as well as a special drink that he called an ether, he said that while a potion could heal the body, the stamina and internal energy of Stacie's body was also depleted, and that this ether was a special drink that would help to give Stacie a much-needed energy boost. After he had explained how to administer everything he then excused himself to his study, and that's where he's been for the last few minutes, I could hear him moving about in there, and I'm pretty sure he's been on the phone to someone for the last few minutes as I could vaguely hear his voice clearly talking to someone, I just assumed it was my mother and went back to playing with Stacie. After a few more minutes, I heard the door open and stood up, ready to greet Mr Chere and thank him for the help. He walked into the living room holding a bag in his hand, it was a relatively large blue-leather backpack, with white shoulder straps and several buckles and zips which held different compartments.

He held the bag out to me, at first, I was confused by the gesture but soon recognised the bag as a gift, I graciously accepted the bag and was about to thank him again until he let go off the bag and I realised just how heavy it was.

"Wooah! What's in here Mr Chere?" I asked him.

"Heh, it's all the supplies you'll need Kyan… for your adventure!" He replied.

 **Kyan's adventure? What could Mr Chere be talking about? Find out Tomorrow!**


	5. Chapter 5 - Carving our Future

_**Chapter 5 – Carving our Future**_

* * *

 **Last time, Kyan and Stacie arrive at Mr Chere's house to heal up Stacie's injuries from her fight, and Kyan is surprised to receive a bag from Mr Chere, along with the offer of an adventure.**

* * *

 **(Kyan's POV)**

I was shocked by Mr Chere's proclamation, my adventure? What the hell was he on about?

"What?!" I questioned him, awaiting an explanation from the rotund man.

"Well Kyan, ever since you and your mother arrived in Verger Town, I could see your potential, I was a trainer once myself and was always excellent at identifying talent! After the battle I just witnessed between you and that boy, I think it's finally time to voice my opinion on this matter, Kyan, this town is not for you, you find no interest in the simple life of a towns-person. You are like I once was, a youth that is constantly bored by his life, craving excitement every single day!" Mr Chere's voice had raised higher and higher in volume as he spoke, he practically ended his speech shouting in my face.

But with every word he said, the Butterfree in my stomach fluttered more and more. I was slowly starting to realise that Mr Chere was speaking the truth, deep down, my heart and soul craved the life of a pokémon trainer! That's why I could never find my place in this town, why I was continuously drained of enthusiasm every day I had to spend carrying out another monotonous task for my mother's bakery. My hand went to hold my chin as I stood there in thought for a few moments, I could hear Mr Chere breathing heavily due to his speech stealing most of his breath away, but I could also sense his eyes locked on me, awaiting my response.

' _Eeh, fuck it!'_ I finally decided.

"Mr Chere, I have the feeling that you're right." I said simply, and I accepted the backpack from his waiting hands.

"Yes! Excellent my boy!" Mr Chere cheered with a smile on his face, before he regained his composure, standing up straight and proud with a stern face. I felt like he was trying a bit too hard to be professional, but whatever, he was probably embarrassed from acting like a excited child just a moment ago.

"Now Kyan, I have just been in communications with an associate of Prof. Deadwood, the most well-esteemed and respected pokémon researcher on Deltrom, and they have agreed to provide you with a pokedex and several poke-balls for you to begin your journey with." Mr Chere informed me, I was already starting to see his professionalism slip, as the edges of his mouth began to curl up into a smile.

"This pokedex is however, extremely outdated compared to the most recent models, but it's the best they can do on short notice. Prof. Deadwood resides all the way on Capital Island, and I doubt heavily that it would be your first stop, so it would be far too difficult to start your adventure as many other trainers do, by receiving a pokedex and a starter from the professor. And as such, I have decided to contact Dr. Eisen, who resides in Cenni Town, and make a special request that he gives you the necessities of a pokémon trainer." Mr Chere explained all this to me, and then sat down to catch his breath, I doubt he's had to talk this much in a long time.

"So, I need to get to Cenni Town? And how far is that?" I asked Mr Chere, I'd never been out of Verger since we moved to Deltrom and had no clue where Cenni Town was, I was aware it was one of the three towns that were on Gamma Island, alongside Verger and Selt, but apart from that I had no clue of the geography of Gamma and its towns.

"Luckily for you, it's just a few hours walk through The Pest." Mr Chere informed me, but he grimaced as he said, "The Pest."

"The Pest? What the hell is that?" I asked, the name didn't sound very inviting and it definitely did not sound like the kind of place I wanted to spend a few hours walking through.

"Oh, you don't even know of The Pest?" Mr Chere asked me. I shook my head and he nodded then began to explain.

"Well I guess you wouldn't; given that you've only been here a few months, and nobody exactly likes to discuss it. The Pest is the name that Gamma Island residents give to the length of woods that separate the towns, it is named such due to the fact that only weak bug pokémon reside there, so it's more of a nuisance, or a pest, to walk through than actually dangerous." Mr Chere explained, I replied with a noise of acknowledgement, my nerves of travelling through The Pest diminishing as I heard that even regular civilians find it little more than an annoyance.

"Now! It's time for the main issue." Mr Chere said gruffly, I looked up at him and raised an eyebrow.

"Convincing your mother to let you travel." Mr Chere replied.

"Shit! I wasn't even thinking about her!" I said, standing out of my chair, my mind already imagining how the conversation would go, she'd gotten too protective of me since the Tauros incident, I doubted she would willingly let me go off on my own.

"I still have to try and ask her, I can't lose this opportunity!" I finally said, determined.

"Indeed Kyan, but you'll need to be quick about it, Dr. Eisen is conducting late-night research so he said he'd be in his lab until 11:00 tonight, so you'll need to show up before then as he said he refuses to conduct business in his own home." Mr Chere told me.

' _Dammit, this is getting more and more complicated, I only have a few hours before_ _I'll need to head out to Cenni Town'_ I thought to myself.

"Please tell me that's all the bad news you've got for me?" I pleaded to Mr Chere, my mind already racing as I pondered how I was going to work out all the timings.

"Actually, not quite, Dr. Eisen is going on holiday for the next two weeks, he is catching a ship to Alola tomorrow afternoon, so you'll need to catch him before he leaves, or you'll have to start your journey with no pokedex or poke-balls." Mr Chere said sombrely.

"God! Why didn't you start with that? I don't have time for this, I need to tell mum and get packing!" I scooped my old bag up, I had left it on the floor when I switched it with the new one, and I held it by the handle strap. I called to Stacie as I began to power walk to the door of Mr Chere's home, she leapt of the table and chased after me.

"Good luck Kyan!" Mr Chere called out to me as I was leaving, I shouted a word of thanks and I started running home as soon as I was outside the door. I had to stop occasionally to encourage Stacie to keep running, and keep running she did, she was as excited to get out of this town as I was.

"We're going to be adventurers Stacie! This boring life of ours ends today!" I shouted triumphantly as I continued running, I could hear Stacie shouting in excitement behind me. At the speed we were going at, it wasn't surprising that we made it home in a matter of minutes, I burst through the front door, Stacie close behind me, and shouted out for my mother.

"Mum! You here? there's something you need to hear!" I tried to shout as excitedly and happily as possible, I hoped she would be more willing to let me go if she could see how enthusiastic I was about it.

"Kyan Elstis!" I heard her shout from the dining room.

' _Shit! Full name? That's never a good sign'_ I thought as my mother stormed into the entrance-way, she took one look at me and started scowling.

"And where are the ingredients you were told to get? I've got a big order of lemon muffins for Patrick's 67th birthday and they need to be finished by tonight, so they can chill overnight in the freezer! What is so important that you completely neglected the whole reason you went out in the first place?" My mum yelled at me, I hadn't even had time to close the door yet, there were children walking past the house playing, now they were crying and running from the house, they weren't even the one's in trouble here. I didn't handle the situation very well.

"Well I was at the market, doing what you told me to do, but there was a kid who… Salandit… Stacie beat him… Mr Chere thought I was good… he gave me this and there's a doctor… pokedex and poke-balls… or I won't be able to get there in time… I need to go through The Pest… I need to go on this journey mum!" I kind of panicked, I think she might have understood half of what I said, but she got the hint, I think.

"A pokémon adventure! You're risking one of my biggest orders for that! You're not a trainer Kyan! Get your head out of the clouds and focus on the bigger picture! Who does Mr Chere think he is? Filling my boy's head with fantasies! Go to your room Kyan! You're grounded, maybe then you'll have time to think! I'm going to the market before it closes up, to get the ingredients that I should already have!" And with that, she jabbed her finger towards the hallway and walked out the front door, slamming it behind her.

I waited a few seconds for her to get far enough away and let it out.

"Are you fucking kidding me? She is so selfish! She wants everything to go her way and she just lashes out when it doesn't! And how is she supposed to know me better than myself!" I was furious, in a few sentences, Mr Chere proved that he knew me better than my own mother ever had. I slumped into the hallway, staggered up the stairs, entered my room and face-planted into my bed.

"Why, Stacie? Are we seriously doomed to live the life we don't want, nothing I do changes things!" I cried into my bed, for the first time since we moved. I wasn't a big crier, after you've cried as much as I have, you find out it's not as effective a solution as just moving on.

 **(Stacie's POV)**

"Cuu?" I squeaked, trying to get Kyan's attention. He was too busy wallowing in his own sadness to pay attention, I climbed up the bed and sat down next to him, I was close to crying myself, I couldn't be happy if Kyan wasn't. if it wasn't for Kyan then I would have died in the Viridian Forest, and I would have been ridiculed for not being a "true" Cubone. I always recalled that day as my most fond memory of Kyan, of my brother.

* * *

 **2 Months After Stacie's Birth**

"Come on girl, you need to come out someday!" Kyan said, his hand reaching out to me as I continued to hide under his bed, however, I refused to move no matter how much coaxing he done. I was embarrassed and would never leave the safe confines of this wooden shelter of warmth and pillows.

"At least give me a pillow?" Kyan pleaded, that was a fair request, I had stolen all of his, but still I refused, the pillows belonged to me now.

"What's the trouble?" The man poked his head in the door, the one Kyan called father, but everyone else called Brian, confusing humans.

"It's Cubone, she got bullied today and is too scared to come out." Kyan told Father Brian.

 _'Shut up. I'm not scared.'_

Really? Well how'd that happen?" Father Brian asked Kyan, at that question, Kyan looked down and took a deep breath before snitching on me.

"Well, Cubone followed me to school today, I don't know why. but some kid was getting dropped off by his older brother, and he had a Marowak. And well, the Marowak started laughing at Cubone as soon as they saw her. She got really upset and ran all the way home, I don't know what they were talking about, but I can imagine Marowak said some pretty mean things to her with how she's acting." Kyan was on the verge of crying, probably from fear of being scolded for allowing me to follow him. But I should be the one crying here, how would they like to be told that they're a disgrace to their species? How is it my fault that my mother wasn't around for me? Surely, I'm not the only Cubone whose mother didn't die in front of them and leave them a skull to wear.

"I think I see the problem here, Cubone are typically protected by their own mother up until they die, at that point the Cubone wears the mother's skull and lives out its life alone. But your Cubone never had a mother, she would have died if you hadn't found her. That Marowak was probably laughing at Cubone because she doesn't have a skull, and therefore never had a mother. Cubone feels ashamed that she was never good enough to be protected, she was abandoned." Father Brian explained all this to his crying son, and I was surprised, it seems like he understood my situation, I guess I underestimated my fath… Kyan's Father.

"Come with me, Kyan, I think I have an idea!" Kyan's Father cried out before laughing aloud and beckoning Kyan to follow, eager to assist his father, Kyan scrambled from the floor and chased after his father.

I didn't hear from the two of them for the next few hours, eventually Kyan returned, exhausted and covered in some sort of white dust. He managed to coax me out to eat and have some water, but then I scrambled back under the bed and fell asleep in the heap of pillows.

* * *

Across the next few days, Kyan would continually leave for hours at a time and come back in the same state, I didn't mind though, he had stopped trying to get me to come out of hiding, in fact, he seemed happy, happier than ever before, something was exciting him, but what?

* * *

A week later I was sleeping under the bed when I heard a triumphant yell echo throughout the house, I had no clue what it was, but it sounded like Kyan. I heard him sprinting up the stairs towards our room, he burst in the door and knelled down to look under the bed.

"I've got a surprise Cubone! Come out and see it!" Kyan was shaking with excitement, just to humour him I crawled out from under the bed, I was missing the attention he used to give me anyway, so getting it back was quite refreshing, and then Kyan pulled something from behind his back, something I never expected to see.

It was a Cubone skull!

"Don't worry girl, it's not real. It's made of white oak, me and my father have been carving it for over a week now, and it's finally done, it's a perfect replica of a regular Cubone skull, now you can be like the rest of your kind. Your mother may have abandoned you, but you've got a new family now, Stacie!" Kyan slipped the skull onto my head, it was smooth despite being made of wood and it fit perfectly, I could tell that a lot of effort was put into this, and that name. Had Kyan just named me? I wasn't just a Cubone anymore, I was Stacie, Cubone of the Elstis family.

I couldn't help it, I cried. And hugged Kyan's leg, for everything he and his father had done.

' _Thank you… brother.'_

* * *

 **Present Day**

I was sprawled out on Kyan's back, crying my eyes out, the tears running down the worn marks on my skull. And then I noticed something, it was hanging out of Kyan's wardrobe. I had been staring at it for 10 minutes but hadn't realised that I was.

And then it hit me, the solution to this dilemma. This was how me and my brother were going to chase our dreams, we will take our future into our own hands!

I clambered down the bed and got to work.

* * *

 **(Kyan's POV)**

CLONK!

"What!" I sprang up from uncomfortable sleeping position, rubbing my head from the strike. I turned my head and saw Stacie standing over me, I sat up and felt my bed, the cover was wet from my tears, and so was my face and shirt. I had no idea how long I was asleep for, but I could tell that all my joints hurt, as I stretched out and raised out an eyebrow at Stacie, wondering why she woke me.

"Cucu!" She waved her arms and gestured at my old bag next to her, needless to say, I was confused.

"This supposed to be a magic trick?" I chuckled to myself before I realised what was next to the bag, it was a roll-up sleeping bag! I got up, curious, and dug through the bag, it was full of all the essential camping equipment. I couldn't shake the feeling that Stacie had raided the whole house to acquire it all, but I still didn't understand, my mother had grounded me and practically forbid me from going. It was at that thought that I realised how dark the room had gotten, I glanced at my bedside clock to see that it was 10:00!

"Oh no! we'll never make it in time, even if we didn't have to convince mum first!" I lay on my back on the floor, I could feel the tears forming again as the realisation hit, that we had missed our chance to grab the life we always wanted. Then I felt Stacie kick my leg, I looked up at her, and then she done maybe the strangest thing she's ever done.

She started tiptoeing around my room, and then she started to walk around the room, and finally she lay on the floor and pretended to sleep. I was incredibly confused, as I was trying to figure it out, she started to add more clues, she pointed in the direction of my mum's room and once again mimed sleeping, and she was shaking the bag of camping supplies with an angry look on her face. And then finally it all clicked, and I still cried, but out of happiness rather than sadness.

"Are you sure Stacie? If we do this, then we'll truly be alone." I asked her, she simply stepped forward and hugged my arm.

"Heh, you're all I need too, sis." I stood up, taking Stacie with me and setting her on the bed, I then worked very quietly to double-check I had everything, and then packed extra supplies, moving throughout the house like a tiny Rattata.

Me and Stacie were at the front door, about to step outside into the cold night air, I had unlocked the door with my key and now had my hand over the handle, I closed my eyes and prepared myself for what was about to happen, Stacie then copied, I could tell she was as nervous as I was. but we both knew that this is what we wanted, we were finally going to take control of our life. I looked down at my sister.

"Come on then, I'm sure a night in The Pest won't be too bad." I joked before we stepped outside, into the night, and into adventure.

 **What exactly do Kyan and Stacie have planned? How are they going to get to Cenni Town in only an hour? Find out next time!**


	6. Chapter 6 - The Pest

_**Chapter 6 – The Pest**_

* * *

 **Last time, Stacie and Kyan had decided to run away from their home in order to strike out on the first leg of their journey.**

* * *

 **(Kyan's POV)**

The plan was simple, Stacie and I would trek through The Pest during the night and then when we made it to the outskirts of Cenni Town, Stacie's part of the plan would come into play. We would set up camp nearby the town, then we would get up super early in the morning so that we could catch Dr. Eisen before he left for his trip. And we had to do this now, if we returned to the house after running away from our mother, we'd never be allowed to leave our room again.

As a matter of fact, this plan was beginning to get more and more unpleasant, the border of The Pest was terrifying to say the least, I had a suspicion that the darkness of night had something to play in that. Despite knowing the harmlessness of the dense wood, I still couldn't help but feel scared of whatever could be lurking inside.

I felt Stacie nudge my leg, I looked down at her and saw she was pointing off the path, towards a sign sticking out of the dirt, the sign had a metal plaque fixed to it, and it was covered in information about The Pest, or as the sign called it; Harson Woods.

* * *

After studying the plaque for a few minutes, I had finally decided to enter The Pest, with Stacie pattering behind me holding our camping bag. We had been walking down the muddy path for a while, completely uninterrupted, until three yellow cocoons descended from the treeline, held in the air by strands of string that reached high into the tree's. The Kakuna began to hiss and shake as all three of them stared at us.

I reactively took up a defensive stance, expecting them to attack us in some sort of way. I heard the camping bag being dropped to the floor and then Stacie ran in front of me, ready to protect me and fight if she needed to.

It was during this tense standoff between Kakuna and Cubone, that all three strands of string snapped and the Kakuna fell out of the trees and clonked to the ground, they continued to squirm and hiss, only succeeding in getting themselves more mud-covered than they already were. The tense, defensive stances that Stacie and I had taken quickly resolved as we both realised that these Kakuna were harmless, nothing more than pest's, as the name suggests. As we both relaxed, we couldn't help but let a giggle or two slip out as we witnessed the cocoon pokémon rolling around in the mud.

' _God, they're such dumb-asses, can't believe we were actually scared of them for a second!'_ I thought as I started to walk again, I looked over my shoulder and reminded Stacie to pick up our camping bag before stepping over the squirming Kakuna and continuing down the path. I had to be honest, but this adventure was off to a pretty boring start, so far Stacie had been in a battle that she had a severe 4 times advantage in, and we'd gotten scared of some dumb Kakuna. And we couldn't even look forward to encountering a Butterfree or Beedrill, because the plaque had informed us that, much to my own dismay, there weren't any fully evolved pokémon present in The Pest due to its severe lack of trainers.

* * *

We'd been walking for approximately half an hour now, I had no idea how much further Cenni Town was, but I knew that it should only take around another 2 hours or so. The disadvantage of travelling throughout the night was becoming apparent, as the path became narrower and it got harder to stay on course. I was straining my eyes to see through the darkness, every now and again I would turn back to make sure Stacie was still following me, if I had trouble spotting her, I would call out to her, to which she would reply with a clear "Bone!" to notify me that she was still behind me. My initial fear of the woods had been replaced with uneasiness and sheer boredom, it was as if I wanted something to go wrong. I was shocked at this realisation but continued to walk down the path, I was realising that this is the feeling Mr Chere was talking about. My desire for excitement.

I quickly decided that I couldn't keep walking through the woods at this pace, I stopped walking and waited for Stacie to catch up. I scooped the camping bag from her arms and shouted at her to hold on, to which she clambered up to hang onto my right shoulder, I held onto the camping bag tightly and took off in a sprint.

As I ran through the woods, jumping over roots and weaving my way through the smaller trees that had grown to cover the path, I could feel the adrenaline rushing through my body, I was going to run and run until we got to Cenni Town. Stacie and I were ready to set out on this adventure, I began to run on auto-pilot as I thought of all the adventures, we could go on now, how independent we could be now, and, I thought of all the pokémon that could join us on this epic chapter of our lives.

* * *

I was now at a steady jogging pace as the darkness had reached its peak and I could barely see in front of my own face. A quick check of my poke-gear revealed that the time had now hit midnight, which meant I had roughly 12 hours to arrive at Dr. Eisen's lab before he left Deltrom, Mr Chere had simply said he was leaving in the afternoon, so I didn't have a definite time-scale to work with.

As I pondered how much time I had left, I felt myself jog into something…silky. Instinctively I swatted at it to get it out of my face. As I tore the material from my face, I relaxed and examined the area, it appears that I had ran face first into a web strung across the path. It wasn't particularly strong and only hung at head height, so it was more like a nuisance than an actual problem. As I was making my assessment, I heard a clicking noise come from the trees above me, I swung my head up to investigate the trees. And it was at that moment that a Spinarak dived down directly towards my face.

I managed to react just in time, diving out of the way in a manic fashion. I landed to the floor in a crumpled heap as Stacie was tossed from my shoulder, I scrambled to pick myself up. By the time I had got up and had turned around, the Spinarak was poised and ready to launch another attack, it rocked from side to side as it hissed at me.

' _It must be mad that I accidentally ruined his web. That explains why it was so weak, it wasn't finished yet!'_ I realised. I called to Stacie and I heard her stumbling her way towards us, trying to find her way in the dark. It dawned on me that I would have to deal with the arachnid pokémon on my own for a few moments until Stacie could get between us. Unfortunately, the Spinarak recognised my fear and noticed I was defenceless. The Spinarak spat a sharp barb towards me, I didn't have enough time to dodge out of the way, so I brought my arms up in a defensive position. I felt the Poison Sting pierce into my arm, and I tensed up as the sharp pain travelled throughout my body, I felt the light trickle of blood leaking out of the wound and readied myself to feel the effects of the poison, I waited for what felt like a few seconds before I heard Stacie shriek. I looked up in time to see Stacie charging towards the Spinarak, she batted it aside with Bone Club and the Spinarak went sprawling across the path. It scrambled up from its downed position and skittered up a tree off into the darkness, it's excitement over an easy target now gone.

Stacie ran up to me, clearly concerned over my wound as I could hear her whimpers as she looked to me hopefully. I slowly turned my arm over, expecting to see my arm take on a purple hue due to the poison coursing through it, but it hadn't. My arm seemed to be perfectly fine! I plucked the small barb from my arm and inspected it, it was as I was doing this that I remembered something important.

"The plaque! It said that pokémon here can't produce poison because they don't need to defend themselves. Damn! How could we forget that?" I laughed out loud and slumped to the floor, half from exhaustion and half because I was revelling in my own idiocy. Stacie crawled up my body and cuddled into my chest, I could tell that she was as relieved as I was that I wasn't in danger of dying to poison.

The darkness mixed with the ache in my legs, caused my eyelids to droop down, it was the first time we had laid down in hours and we just wanted to give in to our tiredness. I sprang up quickly, flinging Stacie from my chest, she wasn't happy about that, but I couldn't let us fall asleep until we got closer to Cenni Town. We had to get off this island quickly before our mother noticed we were gone, after that it wouldn't be long before she would search for us in the other towns on Gamma Island. If we missed this appointment with Dr. Eisen, our adventure would be over before it even started.

"Sorry about that girl, but we need to keep moving." I said decisively before I scooped up our bags, and continued walking.

"I'll carry all the bags for a while, surely we don't have far to walk now!" I said aloud, hoping that I was right, Stacie pattered behind me and we continued down the path.

* * *

Finally! I was beginning to see glimpses of houses through the trees, we were so close to Cenni Town now. And it could not have come sooner, Stacie and I were dangerously close to passing out from exhaustion, we needed to set up camp and catch some sleep for our meeting with the doctor. We found a small clearing a few minutes away from the main path and began to lay out the sleeping bag on the ground. It wasn't long after lying down that we began to doze off, I had made sure to set an alarm for 10:00 on my poke-gear so that we didn't miss our window of opportunity. However, in my semi-asleep state, I had failed to check how much charge my poke-gear had left.

* * *

I was awoken by a screech, I jerked up with a start, my head snapping to the direction of the noise. There I saw Stacie, shambling around as she tried to remove a familiar looking barb from her back. She couldn't reach far enough around to pull it out, so I got up from my sleeping bag and removed it for her. It hadn't even penetrated deep enough to draw blood, but it had obviously been painful enough to wake her up with a yelp. I could easily tell that the barb had come from a Spinarak as it looked identical to the one that had been fired at me earlier. We heard hissing coming from the trees, it seemed like a laugh.

' _Well, I guess that this is that Spinarak's idea of revenge on Stacie'_ I figured, I checked Stacie over to make sure she was okay, and as expected there wasn't any signs of poison or actual damage. After I was sure that Stacie was okay and that the Spinarak was gone, I reached over to my poke-gear, picked it up and jabbed the power button with my thumb, it didn't turn on.

' _I guess I just didn't press it properly'_ I theorised, but even after pressing it again, the screen still hadn't lit up. It was then that I realised, that my poke-gear had ran out of charge overnight, and my alarm hadn't gone off as expected. The sun was shining down on us, so I knew that it was morning, but I didn't know the exact time, and that meant that I could already be late!

"Stacie, we need to get to Dr. Eisen's lab right now!" I shouted, scrambling around our campsite, shoving everything into one of our two bags. Shortly after, Stacie and I were running back down the main path, trying our hardest to get to Cenni Town as quickly as possible.

It took a few minutes before we passed the welcome sign for the town, and officially entered the town. I flagged down the nearest local I could see and began to frantically question her.

"Hey, could you tell me the way to Dr. Eisen's lab?"

"Oh my! Try being a slight bit more polite sonny, but yes, go directly down this path and take the third path on your right." She replied curtly, gesturing down the main path that ran through the town.

"Okay, Thank you!" I thanked her and took off down the path, I had to dodge through the morning hustle and bustle of the town, but eventually I made it to the turn-off and looked down the side path, at the end of it was a simple-looking rectangular building, it was flat-roofed and had a wind turbine installed out the front. I knew that it had to be the lab, and so I beelined for the building.

As I reached the front door, it swung open and thwacked into me. I fell to the floor, almost landing on top of Stacie who was hot on my heels at the time.

"You're lucky that Mr Chere and I are such old friends, or I would have been gone long ago, now here. I have a boat to catch!" Dr. Eisen exclaimed as he hurriedly closed the front door, locked it and tossed a battered looking red pokedex at me. I snatched it out of the sky before it had the chance to break further. Dr. Eisen then handed me two poke-balls as I picked myself up off the floor.

"I would have more, but some ginger kid already came by and practically begged for poke-balls." Dr. Eisen informed me, before he hurried off down the path, towards the docks.

' _Ginger kid? You've got to be kidding me! He beat me here!'_ I thought to myself, sure that this kid was the very same trainer that I had battled back in Verger Town.

"I can't let him get ahead of me! How do I get to Overn Island?" I shouted after the doctor, I had remembered that the ginger kid had mentioned the island, I guessed that it was his next stop, so it only made sense that I go there too.

"Heh! The last boat for Overn leaves from Selt Town in two hours" Dr. Eisen said with a sneer, before he rounded the corner and I lost sight of him.

"Shit!" I screamed.

 **Uh-oh! Kyan and Stacie don't have long to get to Selt Town! Will they make it in time? Or is their destiny going to sail away? Find out next time!**


	7. Chapter 7 - Burning Spirit

_**Chapter 7 – Burning Spirit**_

* * *

 **Last time, Kyan and Stacie arrived at the doctor's lab, only to be gifted with two poke-balls and a barely functioning pokedex. Now they must hurry to Selt Town to catch the next boat to Overn Island, the next destination on their pokémon adventure!**

* * *

 **(Kyan's POV)**

After hearing about my limited amount of time from the doctor, I had initially been filled with a feeling of failure, which soon passed after a glance at my new trainer equipment, it wasn't the best, but it was more than I ever had and it was my first step in heading down the path I had dreamed of the last few hours, this boat was just the next step and I wasn't going to let it stop me now. I had quickly asked the first person I saw about directions to Selt Town, luckily, I was informed that "It should just be an hour's jog through the Northwest exit of Cenni Town."

And that was where I was, with Stacie's new poke-ball firmly in my hand I had headed back into The Pest to reach Selt Town on time. With no way to check the time due to my uncharged poke-gear, I was having to rely on my natural time-keeping abilities, which were telling me that I was making good time, but I had a sinking feeling that that was just optimism. My night's sleep had done wonders for my body however, my energy was back to full and I felt ready to sprint for the next hour, which I had tried to do, but it's a bit hard to run when a fireball the size of your head comes slinging at you from beyond the tree's.

"Oh, fuck!" I had managed to yell out before I hit the deck, dodging the flame and preventing it from charring my face, I felt the intense heat from the attack even as it passed harmlessly over my head, the heat causing my neck to start sweating. I heard the fire fizzle out and refused to stand back up until I could no longer hear the crackle of flames. Upon doing so I heard a bark from the tree's and whirled my head towards it as my attackers leapt from the bushes.

"Liiiithe!" the Growlithe cried out at me, its breath was heavy, and it looked very tired. I prepared myself for the battle, all thoughts of hurrying to Selt Town gone from my head as the excitement overtook my mind. I almost cried out in glee as I finally got to do something I always wanted to do.

"Go, Stacie!" I shouted out as I tossed my poke-ball into the air above me, it fell back down towards me and I rushed to catch it before it hit the ground, I quickly realised my mistake as a deep blush took up on my face, I was glad no-one was here to see that. I pushed the button on the ball, and it grew in my hand, then I threw it. And this time, Stacie came bursting from the ball, doing a roll in the air as she fell. Landing on her feet and twirling her club in her hand, prepared for battle.

"Yeah, yeah. We get it, you're cool and I'm not, whatever" I mumbled under my breath, slightly annoyed that Stacie had executed a cool move while I was busy forgetting how poke-balls worked. I quickly turned my attention back towards the Growlithe and pointed my pokedex sensor at it, I obviously knew what this pokémon was, but it couldn't hurt to test it out. The pokedex cover swung open with a creek, revealing the cracked screen, upon which a Growlithe appeared upon. A grating metallic voice came from the pokedex.

"GROWLITHE, THE "KZZZZRT" PUPPY POKÉMON, A POKÉMON WITH A FRIENDLY NATURE. HOWEVER, ER ER ER ER, IT WILL BARK FIERCELY AT ANYTHING I#qaING ITS TO# $&."

' _Well shit, this thing sure is busted, that sucks, I would really like to know why it attacked me, but I guess I'm not getting that information'_ I mused to myself, I decided that it couldn't be helped and shouted to Stacie that things were about to kick off.

"Okay, charge in with Bone Club!" I commanded to my teammate. Stacie reacted quickly, sprinting in to battle with the Growlithe, her club raised high above her head. Before Stacie could complete her attack however, the Growlithe sidestepped in a panic, only just avoiding the swing of the club. As Stacie recovered from her missed attack, the wild pokémon tucked his head back and shoved it forward, delivering a Headbutt to Stacie's side, causing her to stumble back, she only just managed to prevent herself from falling over by flailing her arms around wildly.

"Answer back with your own Headbutt!" I shouted out after Stacie had recovered, and she reacted quickly, turning the previous momentum generated from her recovery into a brutal downwards Headbutt, which smashed strongly into the Growlithe's skull and caused it to yelp out in pain. It backed away in a stupor, rocking back and forth, quickly I identified that the attack had flinched the pokémon.

"Press our advantage! Bone Club!" I shouted, Stacie took a few steps forward to close the distance and swung her club around to knock the Growlithe in the jaw with it, his head shot backwards and the Growlithe went tumbling across the dirty wooded path, kicking up dust as it slid across the ground. I thought to myself that this was as good a chance as any I would get, I drew my remaining poke-ball and lobbed it in the direction of the Growlithe, it clonked against the Pokémon's belly and opened to envelop the Growlithe in red light, before sucking it into the ball and closing. The ball fell to the ground and began to shake. One shake. Two shakes. And three!

"Oh, my Arceus! We done it! We actually caught a Growlithe!" I jumped for joy as I celebrated, I scrambled across the ground to the poke-ball and picked it up, holding it firmly in my hand before shrinking it into storage mode and tucking it away within my bag. I quickly thanked Stacie and told her we'd talk more but that we were still in a rush, and then I returned her to her poke-ball.

After organising myself again, I set off. Even quicker than before due to the time I lost battling Growlithe, I made a mental note to check them on the pokedex later to get a closer look at their moves. As I got closer to the coastal town of Selt, I began to catch the scent of the salty sea and slowed down to a jog. Tips of buildings were peeking above the treeline and I felt like I had made good time, I was still positive about having made it on time. That was until I entered the town and heard the whistle of a boat horn. Which wasn't the best noise to hear at that moment.

"Move! Move! Move!" I shouted at the crowds, shoving through them while weaving past others. I could hear my heart about to burst through my ear, if the constant thumping in my head was any indication.

My worst fears were confirmed when I ran down the stone steps to the pier of the town, and saw a moderately sized ship sailing away. I tried to call after it, but it was just slightly too far away for anyone on-board to hear me.

"Hey! Wait! Stop the ship!"

"They ain't gonna hear ya, boy." A gruff voice sounded off, my head spun around to face the middle-aged man that had spoken up.

"Those passengers are all a bit too old for their ears to be workin at their best, ya get me? And that captain ain't much better. If you're looking for passage to Overn Island, you're gonna have to wait until…"

"I don't have time to wait that long!" I cut him off, I was thankful for his information, but the rest was useless unless it contained the secrets on how to get the ship to turn around, which I was pretty sure it didn't. so instead I began to brainstorm on how I could get their attention.

' _Okay, they can't hear me, so they won't be able to hear anything Growlithe or Stacie do either. Growlithe's Ember can't even travel the length of a pathway so it's ineffectiveness as a signal flare. Unless I can get height?'_ I thought, I began to look around for any raised surface that I could use to give out a signal to the ship. As I looked over my right shoulder, my gaze rested on a large hill that lay just on the outskirts of Selt Town, but what really filled me with confidence was the structure on top of this hill, an unlit lighthouse.

' _Or If I can use it as fuel for an even better signal!"_ I concluded and took off in the direction of the hill. The man shouting after me, but I was barely listening to him as I knew what I had to do now. I didn't have time to sit around and dawdle while the ship got further away from me.

* * *

If I could get Growlithe into that lighthouse and up to the top, they might be able to light it and alert the ship. The only matter at hand now was getting up there, which it turns out was harder than I had first anticipated. The pathway leading up the hill had completely crumbled, some sort of landslide it seemed had wiped the path away, and now there was no way up to the lighthouse. Or, there was no regular way up to the lighthouse, I skirted the edge of the hill briefly until I found the side with the highest number of rocky outcrops, if I couldn't take the stairs then I would scale the hill. It looked dangerous alright, but hell, this is the excitement I signed up for. With my heart beating in my chest, I got a solid grab of two outcroppings and heaved my body up, with my body above the ground now I pressed my feet against the wall and tested my grip on the wall. After determining that I had a strong enough grip, I began to ascend, testing every handhold I attempted to grab before continuing, the blood had already risen to my face from the exertion and my muscles screamed from having to hold up my body for all this time. Damn, I was out of shape. I could hear voices below me now, most of them screaming at me to get down, I didn't have the luxury of being able to look down right now, so I continued to climb and decided I'd worry about all the onlookers after I was on that ship. I was close to the top now, but the sweat forming in my palms was making it progressively harder and harder to get an effective grip.

And finally, my hand laid flat against the patchy grass at the top of the hill, relief flooding over me as I realised that I had reached the top, but I shouldn't have relaxed so soon, as when I tried to pull myself up, I found myself unable to do so as my muscles had already began relaxing and weakening. So, there I hung, one hand over the edge, having reached its destination, now all that was left was for me to haul the rest of my body over and complete the climb. I tensed my body and prepared myself to precariously try to launch myself over the edge, using my momentum to give me the extra height I needed. I held my body tightly, and then sprung like an uncoiling Ekans. I flung my other arm over the edge, I felt the blades of grass brush over it and I pulled my body towards my hands, dragging my bottom half onto the cold surface of the ground. I pumped my fist into the air as I lay on my back. Another victory for me and my team, the first of many I hoped. I didn't have time to lie her and bathe in my victory however, I had a boat to catch, I pulled myself up and wobbled about on my exhausted legs for a moment before causally throwing a look over the edge of the hill, and, the townspeople were not as thrilled with my victory as I was. Most of them were scowling up at me, and some were even such words of encouragement as "Troublemaker!" and "Good-for-nothing!"

' _Well, I guess they're not happy about me worrying them'_ I concluded, but I quickly dismissed the ever-growing crowd. Instead deciding to release Growlithe and command him to follow me. Luckily the abandoned lighthouse was unlocked, that would have really sucked if it turned out to be locked after all that effort, I could see the stairs rather well due to the light streaming in from the many windows that peppered the lighthouse, on closer inspection they might have just been holes in the buildings mortar. I ascended the stairs, with Growlithe yapping at my feet, we were both careful as to not trip on any of the more unkempt steps, and we quickly reached the top of the tower. Upon opening the hatch and looking out among the sea, I instantly forgot my purpose for being there, the sheer beauty of the sea, and the sun shining across its surface mesmerised me. To think that such a beautiful sight was just lying here, at the top of this dingy, old lighthouse. I was distracted for a good few seconds, basking in the glow from the sun, until I felt a pulling at the ends of my jeans. I glanced down and spotted Growlithe, looking hopefully up at me as they cocked their head. That was enough to allow me to focus at the task on hand.

"Damn! Okay Growlithe, use Ember and light this beacon!" I shouted as I jerked my finger at the signal beacon located at the top of this lighthouse. Upon this command, Growlithe obeyed and readied their stance, spreading their legs out to improve their balance. They tilted their head back and I could see the powerful glow of the flames gathered in their throat, I took this time to scan Growlithe with my pokedex. It informed me that Growlithe was a male, with the ability Flash Fire, and Ember, Headbutt and Bite as its move set. Even with my limited knowledge of battling I was already confident in Growlithe's potential on the battlefield. As I put my pokedex away, Growlithe had finished gathering energy and blasted the ball of flame into the beacon receptacle. The mixture of wood and resin lighted instantly and I had to shield my eyes from the intense light as it became amplified from the glass of the beacon. After my eyes had adjusted to the light, I hurried to the edge of the viewing platform and looked out to the ship as it sailed away, quickly I dug my binoculars from my bag and looked through the magnifying lenses to see out towards the ship. My heart almost jumped out my chest in joy when I saw several passengers reacting to the lighting of the lighthouse, and I could even see one or two of them running to alert the captain.

"Yes, the plan worked!" I said aloud, turning around to thank Growlithe, but he was already curled up into a ball, asleep on the floor. I thought it was strange but didn't really have the time to wonder about it, so I returned him and let him rest. When I looked back through the binoculars, the ship had stopped, and the captain was out on the deck, I couldn't make out his face, but I was pretty sure that it was the captain due to the large coat he wore, along with the traditional seaman's cap. I sprung my arm into the air and began frantically waving my arm around, trying to catch the captain's attention and usher them back to the pier. It didn't take long for the captain to understand what I was getting at, and soon the ship had turned around and was heading back towards me.

I quickly ran down the steps, out the door and clambered back down the hill. Luckily it was much easier coming down than it was going up, at least it is when you've got a whole crowd of people ready to catch you when you inevitably fall. I dismissed their talk of disapproval, opting instead to push past and work my way down to the pier, the crowd of people hurling questions my way, but I was far too tired to answer any of them. Instead I just sat at the edge of the pier, my legs dangling over the water, and lay flat down on my back against the boards of the wooden structure.

"You need to learn to listen kid, I tried to tell you that the path was destroyed by a landslide last week." The man chuckled, I giggled to myself, realising that I had already been warned about the dangers of the lighthouse before I even got there.

"Yeah, well I'm not letting anything stop me from getting to Overn Island. My adventure starts today, and nothing is taking that away from me!" I tried to sound harsh as I spoke through huffed breathes, the efforts of today clearly taking a large toll on me. I tried to keep the adrenaline in my veins pumping, but my efforts were in vain, my body was begging for a break. And it wasn't long before it took a break, before my eyelids dropped shut, I heard the man speak up.

"I can respect that kid, I wish I had had your determination back in the day, maybe I wouldn't still be on this boring island."

* * *

When I eventually came to, I could feel the world swaying around me, but I somehow felt refreshed rather than ill. I sat up and scanned my surroundings, which were not the wooden boards of the pier as I was expecting. Instead it was an averagely sized room, with a long board of levers and switches lying at the front, looking out of a large glass window. But the most surprising thing about this new environment was the large man, wearing his baggy overcoat and his cap that was too small for his head, standing over the control board, holding onto a large steering wheel. He jerked his head gently to the side when he heard me move and turned around slowly. He met my gaze and replied with a grin.

"So, young man, Overn Island then?"

 **Our heroes are finally on the next step of their epic adventure, what new challenges await them on Overn Island? Find out next time!**


	8. Chapter 8 - Puppy Power

**_Chapter 8 – Puppy Power_**

 **Author's Notes:** This chapter has been a long time in the making, I've been super busy the past few months and am trying really hard to get back into regularly writing stories, i have big plans for this story and plans for other interesting pokémon stories.

* * *

 **Last time, Kyan and his team managed to grab a ride on a boat heading to Overn Island**

* * *

(Kyan's POV)

I walked out to the main deck of the ship and glanced over the vessel and its occupants. As far as I could tell, all the passengers were tourists and were merely using the ship as a means of exploring more of the Deltrom region. As I was scanning the deck, I noticed something that caught my eye, Growlithe, standing proudly in the centre of a crowd of passengers. I decided to investigate and approached them.

"Uhm, Growlithe?" I asked aloud, parting a wall of passengers with my arms and approaching my fire-type.

"Oh, I hope you don't mind boy, but we were just admiring your pokémon here, the man at the docks told us how he was instrumental to you getting the captain's attention." One of the onlookers informed me.

"Oh okay, no I don't mind. Where is Stacie? My Cubone?" I asked, that question brought a smile to the faces of many of them.

"We offered to keep her company until you woke, same with Growlithe, but she refused and seemed to prefer staying by your side." The same passenger told me.

To confirm what they said, I took out Stacie's poke-ball and double-checked that she was indeed inside there, safe and sound. It wasn't that I didn't trust them, I just wasn't used to Stacie being stored inside a poke-ball yet and wanted to ease my worries.

* * *

I was leaning against one of the rails out on the bow of the ship, Stacie and Growlithe now both back in their poke-balls. I was admiring the crashing waves as they lapped at the sides of the ship, the crystal-clear water allowed me to gaze deep in the sea and underneath to get a look at the myriad of water dwelling pokémon. It had been a good few hours since I had boarded the Sea-Skater (named after the captain's Surskit) but I had only been awake for about half an hour of that journey. It was as I stood there gazing towards the ocean's edge as it contrasted against the sun, when the captain's voice sounded over the intercom.

"Attention passengers, we are approaching Overn Island now, we will be disembarking in Burrs Town. I thank you for choosing the Sea-Skater!" I smiled to myself at the stereotypical announcement and looked towards Overn Island. Irritatingly I could see the whole island was covered in trees, thankfully though the island seemed more like a colourful forest, as opposed to the dirty woods of The Pest back on Gamma Island. I wasn't in any rush to disembark from the ship, I knew that I would just get caught up in the crowds of tourists, so I held back and waited for the majority of passengers to get off before I even attempted to. As I made my way to the ramp, I heard the captain's voice calling out to me.

"Good luck on your adventure Kyan! Hopefully your Growlithe isn't too big headed after all the praise!" He shouted after me, laughing as he suggested that Growlithe was going to get big headed. That was the last thing I needed to happen considering I had a gym battle coming up, a battle that I knew I was in no way ready for. I entered Burrs Town from the small dock that the Sea-Skater moored at and analysed my surroundings. The buildings were more spaced out than in any of the other towns I'd been to, and the pathways around the town were more like indents in the sandy dirt. Overall it gave the town a more open feel, like it was actually part of the surrounding forest, as opposed to just being next to it.

I wandered around for a bit longer, hoping to come across the pokémon centre or even a mart so I could buy some more pokeballs, but I stopped as I realised that the one thing, I didn't have was any money. I had brought my wallet with me, but I had neglected to check if it contained any money. It was as I was pondering this dilemma that another annoyance popped up.

"Hey, what's up loser! The voice yelled out. I spun around to meet eyes with the redhead boy from Gamma Island.

"Not you again! I thought I would be done with you after you took all of my pokeballs!" I exclaimed, the boy just laughed out loud.

"Aww yeah, I heard about one of the professors associates so I stopped by and kept annoying him until he gave me a bunch of items ahaha!" He chuckled to himself.

"He only had two pokeballs for me, and I've already filled both of them!" I argued with him.

"You have? So, you've caught another pokémon? Let it battle my Elekid! He's buzzing for a fight!" The redhead challenged as he threw his pokeball and released Elekid, who was already whirling their arms and crackling with electricity.

"What? You didn't want to battle my Cubone back in Verger Town! You don't get to just pick and choose your battles kid!" I yelled at him, angry at his commanding demeanour.

"Kid? My name's Cass, and you better remember my name because I'm gonna be one badass trainer someday! And I'm not gonna put my Elekid up against a pokémon that's immune to his attacks, he'll end up losing and making me look bad!" Cass explained, as he settled into a stance ready to battle, adamant on challenging me.

"You're kidding me, right? Stop acting like you're pokémon are the only ones to blame when they lose, you pulled the same shit when your Salandit lost in Verger Town! The trainer is as responsible for the losses of their mons as the pokémon itself!" I yelled at him, once again angry at this obnoxious kid, at least I could now put a name to the annoyance, Cass. I had to wipe the smirk of this assholes' face, so I slipped my bag from my back and removed Growlithe's pokeball.

"Growlithe! Let's teach this kid a lesson!" I shouted as I released my fire type.

"Ooh, a Growlithe, that'll be a good challenge for Elekid, as long as he's not as shitty as his trainer!" Cass teased. My Growlithe sat there, eyebrow raised and scoffed at the Elekid, which seemed to piss it off. Great, all the praise really had got to Growlithe's head, but hopefully that wouldn't affect his battling.

"Growlithe! Start off with Headbutt!" I shouted, he sprung forward from his laid-back position, eager to show off his power, and charged forward towards the electric type.

"Elekid, use Quick Attack to counter!" Cass ordered. Elekid sprinted forward, lightning crackling around his body and white streaks trailing after him as he blitzed past Growlithe and quickly spun around to barge a shoulder into his ribs. Growlithe was knocked to the side and skidded across the dirt, but he was still on his feet and ready to go.

"Growlithe! Use Bite now!" I commanded, I was hoping that Elekid would be tired from moving so fast, and open to attack. The attack landed and Growlithe chomped down on the electric type, but as soon as he done so, electricity began sparking all over his body and Growlithe whimpered.

"Hah, That's Elekid's Static ability, it allows him to sometimes paralyse opponents that make contact with him! I didn't think it would come in handy against a fire type, but your Growlithe's so weak it can't even use Ember!" Cass laughed as he ordered Elekid to throw Growlithe off. As the paralysis gripped Growlithe's body, he was unable to stop Elekid from forcing him off.

"I'll show you, you brat! Growlithe! Blast it with Ember!" I shouted, determined to show this kid. Growlithe fought back the paralysis for now and leaned his head back, charging up flames in his mouth. I could almost feel the heat from her, but Cass had started laughing over on his side of the field.

"Now! Thunder Punch!" Cass yelled, I was startled at the command of this powerful electric type attack, but I calmed when I realised that this Elekid was gonna eat a faceful of flame before he even got clo…

' _What! Growlithe's still charging!'_ I noticed with dread, and before he had a chance to fire of an Ember, Elekid's lightning charged fist had crunched into his face, snapping his jaw shut, extinguishing the flame and tossing the Growlithe back.

"Why didn't it fire?" I exclaimed loudly, Cass once again began laughing.

"Your little baby is too weak, any self-respecting fire type should be able to charge and fire an Ember in a second, as soon as I saw the weakling struggling, I knew I could go all out." Cass explained, he then returned his Elekid and turned away.

"Come fight me again when you actually have some decent pokémon! Oh! and here, you'll need it" Cass quipped before he walked away, trying to look as cool as possible as he tossed some potions over his shoulder .

"Dumbass." I muttered under my breath and returned Growlithe. As I pondered Cass' words I realised that both times I had seen Growlithe use Ember, in The Pest and up the lighthouse, it was a surprisingly weak flame and Growlithe had become incredibly tired after both attempts. I guess that was just a consequence of catching a pokémon in The Pest, they were all weak in there. I scooped up the potions and stuffed them into my bag, sadly, I did actually need them considering I couldn't buy any for myself.

* * *

I was sitting up against a tree, trying to figure out what I was supposed to do. I had healed Growlithe at the PMC (Luckily, that service is free) and then found a quiet place to think. I was stuck on Overn Island, with no money or items, just a bag full of crap. I had a badass Cubone that has only battled twice, and a weak as fuck Growlithe that may as well have been hatched from an egg yesterday.

Out of nowhere, the pokeball on my belt burst open and Stacie jumped out in front of me. She began to stamp around in the sand, clearly angered by something. It only took me a second to figure out that she was mad at me for giving in so easily, she was always skilled at being able to read my emotions or train of thought. After staring at the raging Cubone for a few moments, I pulled myself to my feet and she stopped and stared up at me.

"Well, let's go train then, we're not going to get stronger by throwing a tantrum." I teased as I walked off in search of a decent area to train in. Stacie let out a mocking grunt before following behind me. We searched for a few minutes for a moderately sized clearing in the trees, I wanted a place with some sturdy looking rocks to use as targets, but this didn't take long to find in the vast expanse of the Overn Forest, the entire island was covered in this thriving ecosystem. Luckily, we managed to avoid crossing paths with any feral pokémon and found a good spot to begin training in.

"Okay, Stacie just use this boulder here and practice your Bone Club attack until it breaks, rest every 10 minutes so you don't get too tired." I said, and Stacie grunted in approval as she walked off to carry out her training. I took out Growlithe's ball and released him.

"You ready to train boy? You're gonna practice charging up and firing your Ember at that rock there, we need to get you better at charging up your fire." I said, Growlithe nodded timidly and took his stance, I had chosen a rock that was apart from the tree line, so we didn't end up setting everything on fire. Growlithe began charging and firing Embers at the rock, having to rest for a few minutes after every blast. I browsed the pokedex for information about Growlithe and discovered that it wasn't a matter of Growlithe being weak, it was just too young to efficiently use Ember and therefore used up too much energy.

* * *

Both Growlithe and Stacie trained hard, I made sure to give them plenty of rest and kept an eye on both to make sure neither of them were slacking. It was a while into the training sessions when I heard footfall and laughter approaching the clearing, I thought nothing of it until I saw three boys, all looking to be around my age, enter the clearing and head towards me.

"You babies having fun fighting rocks?" The boy in the middle said. I turned to him and saw a kid with spiky brown hair and a dull purple turtleneck, flanked by a short, tubby kid wearing a flannel, and a tall, lanky kid in a wife beater shirt. Both had short cut light brown hair.

"Excuse me?" I asked, I could tell these guys were assholes, but I wasn't going to rise to their teasing.

"You and your little weakling pokémon! Did you ask us before you trained on our turf?" The middle kid questioned, I could clearly see that he was the ringleader of this little group due to the fact that he was the only one who'd spoken so far.

""Whatever dude, my pokémon aren't weak and I know that this isn't your turf, it's the freaking Overn Forests!" I fired back, I had quickly switched to a passive aggressive attitude when the punk called the strength of my partners into question.

"If they're not weak then prove it!" the leader yelled and threw a pokeball in the air, which quickly burst open and a rather angry looking Machop landed on the ground and took up a fighting stance, Stacie quickly jumped in front of me, ready to take on this opponent as Growlithe wearily sat nearby, much more tired than Stacie after his training. The kid didn't even give me a chance to compose myself before he shouted his first command.

"Machop, Karate Chop!" The kid shouted, his Machop quickly responded and leapt through the air, his hand flat and ready to strike Stacie when he landed. I knew I had to get rid of his advantage of speed, and I decided that it didn't matter how fast he was if he couldn't hit Stacie.

"Dodge to the side and Sand Attack!" I ordered, Stacie dived away from the attack of the Machop and drove her club into the ground before thrusting it upwards and blasting sand into the Machop's face.

"Cheap tactic! Machop, use Foresight and Comet Punch!" Machop quickly retreated and his eyes began to glow brightly, allowing him to see clearly again as he advanced on Stacie and began to throw out a flurry of fast punches.

"Stacie hold on! Knock him back with Headbutt!" I knew that Stacie would get rapidly overwhelmed by Machop if she didn't defend herself, I was hoping to get lucky and get a flinch on Machop, but his trainer had other ideas.

"There's no use! Detect and Circle Throw!" Machop entered a hyper-focus state and expertly stepped out of the way of Stacie's attack, he then clasped his hands around Stacie's wooden skull and began spinning her by her head, he spun around a few times before letting go and launching Stacie into a large boulder, knocking her out.

"No, Stacie!" I ran towards my fainted partner but was quickly tackled to the ground by the Machop, I had no idea what he was doing until I felt a tug at my belt and saw him toss my pokeballs towards the kid.

"Nice one! The Cubone can't fight, but it's rare enough to fetch a decent price. Malcolm, trap him!" the kid shouted, gesturing towards the shorter of his lackeys.

"You got it Devlin! Stonefang use Stealth Rock!" The lackey called Malcolm shouted as he released a Rockruff, which quickly blasted out a cluster of stones that flew into the ground around me and buried themselves out of view. The leader, who I now knew was called Devlin, pointed towards me with a sick grin.

"Don't try and follow us kid, or those rocks will shred you!" Devlin said, before running his hand through his hair, and recalling Stacie with the stolen pokeball. It was at this that I heard Growlithe yelp and run into battle, unfortunately, he didn't get far.

"Bexley!" Devlin roared as he walked away with Stacie's pokeball in hand.

"Aye-aye Boss!" The lanky one responded as he released an Ekans.

"Snake-eyes! Glare!" Bexley ordered, with one look from Snake-eyes, Growlithe stopped in his tracks, the paralysis coupled with his exhaustion from over-training made him completely incapable of movement.

"Leave the pup, it's useless!" Devlin commanded as he disappeared into the foliage, his Machop and the rest of his group quickly followed, as Bexley screamed some sort of warning to me about not messing with The Outlaws. I screamed at myself to follow them, but the threat of the Stealth Rocks kept me fixed to the spot. I was too scared to move, for I knew if I did, then the Stealth Rocks would spring from the ground and come straight for me. If they were sharp enough to damage pokémon then they would certainly cause severe injuries to me, and then I wouldn't be able to help Stacie anyway.

For a few minutes I stood there, in the middle of the minefield of Stealth Rocks, trying to brainstorm a way of helping my paralysed Growlithe and rescuing Stacie from the "Outlaws" without losing my life to the rocks hiding below the ground.

I could see Growlithe from my invisible prison, I could see the struggle in his eyes as he hopelessly tried to break free from the paralysis, however, we both knew he couldn't do it alone. My heart sunk as I realised that all of Growlithe's losses were also partially my fault, at least they were if what I said to Cass was true. I wouldn't even be here if that asshole hadn't goaded me into training, I just had to get strong enough to beat him and wipe that grin off his face, he just thinks he's so much better than me. I'll show him, and then it'll be me mockingly giving him potions…

"Wait a minute!" I said out loud, now that I thought about it and was actually focusing, I realised that the bottles weren't purple like potions would be, they were yellow. They were paralyse heals!

Slowly, I slipped my bag off my shoulders, constantly keeping an eye out for any shifting rocks. I zipped it open, and peered inside, sitting at the top of the bag, were 2 yellow bottles of liquid.

' _Score! That idiot did give me paralyse heals! Now I just need to find a way of curing Growlithe'_ I pondered to myself, if I could heal Growlithe, he could run to get help, even if I got injured by the rocks. With this realisation I held one of the paralyse heals tightly, slipped my bag back on, and prepared myself to run for my life.

"Get ready to run for help Growlithe!" I spread my feet apart, settling into the best sprinters position I could muster, and I set off. I surged forward, fear gripping my body, but my mind forced my body to keep running, it didn't take long before rocks started to erupt from the ground and fire towards me, I managed to dodge a few, but even more than that hit me in the legs and arms, and a small one even collided with my cheek. Luckily, they didn't seem to be as sharp as I originally feared, but they still hurt, a lot! I made it through what I thought was the border of the Stealth Rock field, and jabbed the medicine into Growlithe, quickly pulling on the trigger attached to the bottle. The healing liquid injected into Growlithe, and he began to loosen up and move again, I could tell his paralysis was cured when he screeched out in danger. I whirled around to see a large, blunt Stealth Rock rocket towards me. It smashed into my head and the world went black.

* * *

I woke up to the feeling of a soft material being dabbed onto my forehead, my eyes slowly opened as my vision slowly came back from the blurry mess it was. Standing over me was a pink-haired woman, who I quickly identified as Nurse Joy. I tried to sit up, but she kept her hand pressed on my chest, keeping me down.

"I haven't finished cleaning your head wound, please sit still." Nurse Joy said softly.

"I don't have time for that, I need to go and rescue my Cubone from those creeps!" I yelled, fighting against Nurse Joy to try and stand.

"Fine, try to stand, but be careful. And don't worry about your pokémon, Jenny and the police are working on getting back all the pokémon that The Outlaws stole."

"All of them?" I asked, confused, as I stood, I realised what she meant. I was in a small doctor's office, and through the window into the lobby, I could see several trainers waiting in lobby, all with visible bruises and scrapes. These were other trainers that The Outlaws had attacked and stole pokémon from.

"It's strange that they didn't take your Growlithe, lucky for you though, he's the only reason I was able to find you." Nurse Joy explained. I noticed Growlithe by the door and was about to thank him, but he turned away and left through the door into the lobby.

"He seems rather angry, he's been that way since he led me to you." Nurse Joy said.

"The Outlaws didn't try and steal him because they thought he was weak, I think he's mad at me." I explained to the nurse.

"I see, it seems like he's far too prideful, pokémon lose battles all the time, but they can always become stronger with enough support from their trainer, giving up after every loss isn't the attitude a pokémon like Growlithe should have." Nurse Joy said. I listened to her speak as I observed the trainers in the lobby, it looked like every one of them was younger than me and visibly upset from having their pokémon stolen. It was then I realised that I had started my adventure a few years later than a lot of trainers had, and that these trainers were even more defenceless than I was.

"I can't sit around and wait Joy; do you have any idea where The Outlaws might be?" I asked, she paused for a moment before answering.

"Normally I wouldn't condone this behaviour, but you seem more mature than all the children in the lobby, and you're the only trainer in the area with a pokémon left, apart from the police of course, but they've been unable to catch The Outlaws so far. The Outlaws seem to be heading deeper into the forest, many believe that they're heading to the centre of the forest, there is a large stone plate there that trainers used to battle on before the gym challenge was implemented in Deltrom." Nurse Joy informed me.

"Then I guess Growlithe and I are heading to the centre of the forest, we're going to bring everyone's pokémon back!" I exclaimed, I headed into the lobby and called for Growlithe.

"Listen boy, I know you're mad, but these people need us, and you need to get your head out the gutter, we're going to go and get back the stolen pokémon, show those Outlaws who's boss and rescue Stacie." I insisted, he glared at me briefly before giving in and heading out of the PMC, I followed just behind him. I could feel everyone staring at me, as they muttered amongst themselves, I imagined they were probably talking about how I would be unable to get their pokémon back, but I pushed those thoughts away, and left the PMC with purpose.

* * *

I was beginning to think this was a terrible idea, Growlithe and I had gotten lost quickly wandering around the forest, we didn't have much direction apart from that we were heading towards the centre. We were both acting determined, but really, we were worried we'd be stuck in the forest forever, looking for the thieves, but it was then that we heard it. A frantic squawking off in the distance, Growlithe and I shared a look and a quick nod before running off in the direction of the noise.

We didn't need to run far, barely even a few feet, before a shape came flying at my face, it quickly cartwheeled out of the way and begin doing circles in the air. Looking up, I realised that the shape was the pokémon Noctowl, and it was desperately trying to grab my attention before it shot off back in the direction it came from, Growlithe and I didn't need to communicate to know that we should follow it. So, we did.

The Noctowl led us to a clearing with a large tree in the centre of it, the tree was visibly old and looked like a home for various bird pokémon, a theory proven due to the multitude of nests that dotted it's branches. But despite the large number of nests, there were no pokémon anywhere to be seen or heard.

"Where are all the pokémon?" I turned to Noctowl, I suspected I already knew what had happened. Noctowl begin to circle the air in response, trying to guide us down another path deeper into the forest.

"Your family has been stolen by The Outlaws, haven't they?" I questioned, but before Noctowl could respond a Hoothoot sprung from its hiding place in the tree, intending to land on me. But at a warning squawk from his mother, he changed his trajectory and landed in front of me, glaring with mistrust. Growlithe took a few steps to stand between us but I called him back, I knelt down to face the Hoothoot eye to eye, if I was going to become a trainer, I had to be able to deal with angry pokémon.

"So, your brothers and sisters have been taken? I know you don't trust me, but it seems like your mother does, so why don't you come help us save your family, we'll surely need help from a feisty fighter like yourself." I said, while I was trying to humour him, I could tell that this Hoothoot was no child from its size, it was likely the eldest of the flock and felt guilty for letting its siblings get stolen. At my offer of help, Hoothoot nodded gently, eyes still showing wariness. He turned and flew towards the path his mother was gesturing at.

"Looks like we've got to do some more running Growlithe, but it seems like Noctowl knows where those no-good thieves are, she must have come to us for help fighting when she heard us in the area." I decided, Growlithe huffed in confirmation and ran ahead to follow the birds, I ran as fast as I could to keep up with the fast pokémon.

* * *

As I suspected, the Noctowl led us deeper into the forest, we were rapidly approaching the centre of the forest, I could see the stone battlefield between the trees, the one Joy had mentioned. And I could make out two figures standing on the stone stage, one was much larger and held a hefty looking bag. An adult?

"Stop right there!" I yelled out at the pair, they both looked towards me with shocked expressions, I recognised one of them instantly, it was The Outlaws leader, Devlin. But the other man was not one of Devlin's cohorts, it was a pale, well-built man donning a purple uniform adorned with a yellow bio-hazard symbol on the chest. I had no idea who the man was, but I guessed that he could be Devlin's boss.

"Did you really lead someone here brat? I steal a whole nest of bird pokémon with ease and you can't even nab a few weakling pokémon from their weakling trainers!" The man huffed angrily, he wasted no time in releasing a rather sinister looking Sneasel. Noctowl instantly charged towards it, probably angered from the news that this man had stolen her children from her, Hoothoot hung back and cheered his mother on, not wanting to get in the way of the fight.

"You again, I thought you'd know by now that your useless little pup can't help you, that's why I let you keep it!" Devlin sneered, releasing a strange looking Geodude, it caught me off guard before I recognised it, from my holiday in Alola years ago, it was the Alolan variant of Geodude, a rock/electric type if I remembered correctly.

I guessed it was up to Growlithe and I to deal with Devlin since Noctowl was preoccupied with the man in purple. If I believed in Growlithe, he couldn't lose this time, he trusts in his power, now I need to as well.

"Let's do this! Bite!" I shouted, and Growlithe quickly responded, leaping towards Devlin's A-Geodude and trying to bite into it. Despite it being a neutral attack, the rocky pokémon didn't even seem to be bothered by it.

"Pathetic! Shocker, use Spark!" Devlin commanded, and his A-Geodude's body sparked with electricity, forcing Growlithe to release his bite, and then charged forward with an electric tackle, blasting Growlithe back. Growlithe scrambles back up to its feet and glanced towards me for help.

"Push it back with Headbutt, try to flinch-lock it!" I ordered, trying to employ a high-level tactic that I had seen gym leaders use back in Kanto. Growlithe proceeded to batter Shocker with continuous Headbutts, trying to flinch Devlin's pokémon and continue with his assault, but Devlin didn't like that idea.

"Bide!" Devlin yelled, and the A-Geodude began to glow with a red outline. Every time Growlithe collided with Shocker, small puffs of smoke would release from his body. The A-Geodude endured 5 Headbutts before Devlin yelled out another command.

"And unleash!" He shouted, and Shocker launched a devastating punch at Growlithe, using all of his built-up energy to send Growlithe flying once again.

Growlithe collided with me and we both fell to the ground, as I picked myself up off the ground I heard a screech and looked towards Noctowl to see her being pelted with Ice Shards from the man in purple's Sneasel, I thought of the idea to switch our battle partners, but I quickly realised that Noctowl was at a disadvantage no matter what, I had to focus on my fight then I could help her.

Growlithe shakily stood up and stared towards the A-Geodude, trying to look confident even as he neared exhaustion, his attitude reminded me of a proud knight refusing to give in even when they had no chance.

"Crush it! Rock Throw!" Devlin shouted to Shocker, the pokémon smashed his hand into the ground and heaved out a large rock from the dirt, it was about the size of the A-Geodude and they easily lifted it above their head, I saw the hatred in the rock types eyes before they tossed the rock directly at Growlithe, I quickly shouted a command to jump out of the way but I could see Growlithe's legs shaking from where I was standing and I knew he wasn't in any condition to move.

So, I acted on instinct and threw my body in front of Growlithe, I refused to let him suffer even more. I felt the large piece of stone collide with my back, the stinging pain overtook my body as I screamed in agony. I slumped to the ground in front of my fire type, I could practically feel my back-changing colour as it bruised.

I heard Growlithe take a few shaky steps towards me, I reached out a hand and placed it on his head to comfort him, I managed to raise my head up enough to see him, in between my tears I could make out his eyes, they were wet, as if he was about to cry, and filled with a mix of confusion and concern. I almost passed out, until I heard that prick pipe up.

"You dumbass! Jumping in front of an attack for a worthless fire type that probably doesn't even care about you! You are such a pathetic trainer!" Devlin laughed out loud.

"You said it kid! Now after Sneasel slashes this birds neck we can take these captured pokémon back to my boss!" The man in purple sneered, as his Sneasel knocked Noctowl to the ground with Smack Down and began to approach her prone body, intense gravity keeping Noctowl's wings pinned to the ground.

Even in my injured and exhausted condition, I refused to let Devlin be smug. I slowly stood up, my back cracking as it realigned itself.

"He is not a worthless fire type Devlin! He is a proud knight! And his name is Arturo; Sir Arturo!" I yelled back at the Cubone thief, Growlithe had done so much for my journey already, I had decided it was time that he be given a name worthy of the determined warrior he strives to be. I heard him whimper from behind me, I looked over my shoulder at him and saw him with his head cocked, studying me with teary eyes, I could tell he was processing the reveal of his new name. But Devlin just had to ruin the moment.

"Geez! You're just a pair of pathetic losers, don't worry, I'll make good use of your Cubone, she'll adjust to my team quickly, Shocker, finish them both with Thunder Punch!" Devlin commanded, Arturo's ears pricked up as he recalled being taken out by Cass' Elekid, and the look in his eyes quickly changed to one of determination. He charged forward and jumped up to my chest, pushing with his hind legs to get me out of the path of the A-Geodude. As he landed, he let out a fierce Howl, surrounding his body in a destructive, red aura. He leapt over Shocker's attack expertly and delivered a crushing Bite to Shocker's head. The A-Geodude screeched out in pain as his rocky shell began to crack, and before it could react, Arturo had already sprang out of range.

"What the hell?!" How is that baby so much stronger and faster now?" Devlin cried out.

"You idiot! That kid's Growlithe must have just ascended*, it's way stronger now!" The man in purple exclaimed, clearly taken aback by the turn of events.

"Sneasel, stop toying with that bird and help out the brat!" The man ordered, I looked towards his dark type as it moved lightning fast, preparing to sever the Noctowl's head from its body, and neither me nor Arturo were in any position to stop it.

But then, Sneasel was sent flying back with a swoosh of air. And Hoothoot jumped in front of his mother, his body crackling with white energy; and everyone observed as the flying type became surrounded in energy, and slowly began to change shape. The bright light blinded the Sneasel and prevented it from attacking. After a few moments the energy dissipated, and a Noctowl stood in the Hoothoot's place.

"Woah, Hoothoot evolved to protect his mother! Nice!" I shouted triumphantly. I studied the faces of our opponents at this new occurrence, they were both clearly aggravated and seemed less sure of their victory now.

I heard Arturo bark an order at Noctowl, and the bird nodded in understanding.

' _Are they planning something?'_ I thought to myself as I saw Arturo and Noctowl moving full-speed towards each other, their opponents chased after them as their trainers ordered them to attack. At the last moment, Noctowl performed a mid-air roll over Arturo's back and swooped towards Shocker, his wing shone with silver energy and he slammed a super-effective Steel Wing into the A-Geodude, throwing it back and knocking it clean out. At the same time, Arturo rolled under the swipe of the Sneasel, and blurted out a powerful Roar, blowing back the evil pokémon. The Sneasel quickly rose and charged back into battle, but it didn't get far before Arturo blasted it with a full power Ember, The Sneasel was knocked back by the blast and fainted.

"Oh my god! You done it Arturo!" I jumped for joy at our brilliant victory, seeing Arturo finally unleash a fully powered Ember was so satisfying after all our training. Devlin and the man stood, stunned into silence.

"No way! They beat us!" Devlin cried out, he obviously wasn't expecting to get beaten.

"Damn, Sneasel was my only pokémon! Fine, take back the stolen pokémon!" The man yelled as he tossed the bag of pokeballs and ran away into the trees. I watched him run, deciding that I would report the man to Officer Jenny when I got back to town, I approached the bag to search for Stacie's pokeball.

"Looking for this loser! I think I'll be keeping it!" Devlin teased as he ran towards the trees as well. I turned to see him waving a pokeball in the air, I realised that it must be Stacie's ball. I hopelessly ran after Devlin, I knew he was too far away to catch now, but I didn't have to chase him, because, with a screech, Noctowl swooped through the air and plucked the pokeball from Devlin's hand.

"Oh shit! Screw this, I'm out! You don't matter anyway, you just pissed off Team Toxin! You'll be dead soon!" Devlin screamed as he ran off into the forest.

* * *

I didn't know who Team Toxin was, but it didn't matter now anyway, I had hauled the bag of stolen pokémon back to the town and was helping the pokémon centre return them all to their rightful owners. Every trainers name was written down and they had to give a detailed description of the pokémon they had lost before Nurse Joy came them their pokémon back.

After much paperwork and words of thanks from the many trainers that were grateful from our rescue of their partners, I got all my stuff together and left my room in the PMC, the centre had given me a free room and a collection of medicine for my work in retrieving the pokémon, and one of the trainers had luckily gifted me two more pokeballs for my help. I said one last goodbye to Joy and headed for the front door, Burrs Town was nice but there was nothing else for me here, I had to get to the gym in Thrush City, my first gym battle was slowly approaching, and I knew now that Arturo, Stacie and I were ready for it.

I left the PMC and followed the signs to a pathway leading into the forest, the signs stated that Thrush City was down this path, about a few hours walk down the way. I was about to head down the path, but I jumped in surprise when a familiar looking pokémon swooped down from his waiting place in the trees and landed on my shoulder.

"Woah! Noctowl, where did you come from?" I asked the flying-type, but his only response was to squawk loudly and flapped his wings, urging me forward.

"Wait, you want to come with us?" I questioned, Noctowl simply nodded and the biggest grin formed on my face.

"Awesome, we're happy to have you buddy!" I said, I guessed that after getting a taste of battle, Noctowl wanted more of it and left his nest in the protection of his mother.

"Well you're going to need a name then Noctowl! How does Nimbus sound?" I asked as we headed towards Thrush City.

 **Onwards to the first gym battle, Will Kyan's new and improved team be able to take on the challenges of the Thrush City gym!** **Find out next time!**

* * *

Glossary *= Ascension is a term that i am using to replace things like levels, basically Arturo "ascended" from a weaker young Growlithe into a stronger older Growlithe. i just find this easier and nicer to write and read than having to get all technical with levels and it also gives an explanation for how pokémon learn new moves and become miraculously stronger in a moment of need. Think of it like an anime style power-up.


	9. Chapter 9 - Reboot

Soon I will be deleting this story and restarting it from scratch, after much reflection I have decided that I want to re-write the beginning chapters but that there are too many changes to make and therefore it would be better to restart the story. Within the next few days this story will be deleted and soon I will be uploading the re-written first chapter as its own new story.

Thank you for anyone who's read the story so far, and i hope you enjoy the new story as it still will follow the same story it will just be told differently.


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